The third AL East time I will be looking at, is Baltimore. The Orioles are coming off finishing in 4th place in last year’s shortened season. They ended the year with a 25-35 record. Unfortunately for Oriole fans, I don’t expect this season to be any different this year. They are currently in the middle of a rebuild, once again, so I don’t expect anything big to come out of Baltimore this year. But there is 1 good reason to watch Baltimore; that is to see Trey Mancini back where he belongs. To give insight, Trey is the Orioles best player by far, but last year had to leave Spring Training and for about a week no one knew why. All we knew was it was a personal matter. Trey later reveals on his social media pages, that he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. The dude had his life turned upside and was close to having his dreams taken from him. Fortunately enough, he beat cancer’s ass and is back doing what he loves. I for one am excited to see him go back to the all-star caliber player he was in 2019 and am rooting for this guy big time.
Projected Starting Rotation
| 1 | John Means |
| 2 | Dean Kramer |
| 3 | Felix Hernandez |
| 4 | Matt Harvey |
| 5 | Wade LeBlanc |
Looking at the rotation, it’s going to be a rough year. But that’s what you have to expect when you’re in the middle of a rebuild. They have 1 standout pitcher, in John Means, who probably won’t get enough run support to back his quality starts or won’t get help on the defensive side which will prolong innings for him to pitch. Means is a good pitcher, with a great upside, but right now he is going to struggle as the Orioles don’t have the fire power to back him. Two other names to keep an eye on, are reclamation projects, Felix Hernandez and Matt Harvey. King Felix is entering his 16th season, and he says he has a lot left in the tank. But by the look at how he performed in recent years, he his in the back 9 of his career. I hope, as a baseball fan, that Felix is great again. It’s going to be weird seeing him in another jersey other than Mariners, but I hope he has a great year. Matt Harvey, on the other hand, has struggled ever since leaving the Mets. He’s been a reclamation project for multiple teams but hasn’t worked out. I see him making the team based on name value alone, but even then I don’t know how much value his name has left. If anything, this season will be used for the Orioles to see what they’re young pitching prospects have to offer.
Project Line-Up
| 1 | LF Austin Hays | R |
| 2 | CF Cedric Mullins | S |
| 3 | DH Trey Mancini | R |
| 4 | RF Anthony Santander | S |
| 5 | C Chance Sisco/Pedro Severino | L/R |
| 6 | 1B Ryan Mountcastle | R |
| 7 | 3B Rio Ruiz | L |
| 8 | SS Freddy Galvis | S |
| 9 | 2B Yolmer Sanchez | S |
Looking at the line-up, there isn’t nothing to be that excited about. The only standout to me, is Trey Mancini for reasons I’ve stated above. There’s not much to talk about in regards to who to keep an eye out on. They will most likely go with a platoon in catcher with Chance Sisco and Pedro Severino splitting time. I believe this is a make or break time for Sisco as top prospect Adley Rutschman is on his way to the big leagues. I think Chance should use this year to separate himself from the pack and get eyes on him. By doing this, he opens himself up to being traded as the Orioles will most likely try shopping him to make room for Adley. If he performs great, Orioles will get a big haul back in return and more teams will be on Chance. If he doesn’t though, I believe he will be sent down to the minors or released and have to start from scratch elsewhere.
2021 PECOTA AL East Projections
As stated above, I don’t expect Baltimore to compete this year. Nothing against the men on the team, it’s just the AL East is stacked with Blue Jays and Yankees looking strong and you can never count out the Rays. With Baltimore, I agree with PECOTA’s predictions. I expect them to finish in 5th place in the AL East. As for the over/under, I will say they will have less than 65.8 wins. I think they will finish with about 60-63 wins.
