The Orioles Woke Up In First Place Today, Which Means It's Time To Leave The AL East In The Dust

Back in the high life bitches!!! Been a rocky road back to the top, but we’re here. Yeah it’s only the end of June, plenty of baseball left, but look at where the Birds were no more than 4 weeks ago…

Back on June 4th, they narrowly avoided a 4 game sweep in Houston and couldn’t hit a lick. Now, after sweeping Cleveland and shutting them out in a doubleheader, the Birds have won 18 out of 23 to go from worst to first. It’s no coincidence that June 5th marked Matt Wieters return, and they’re 11-2 in the games he’s started. No disrespect to Caleb Joseph, the guy’s done a phenomenal job the past year, but you can’t put a price on the impact of a gold-glove switch-hitting backstop like Wieters (well you can, but that’s a conversation for another day). An even better sign is that the O’s are rolling right now with Adam Jones basically on the shelf the past week. He’ll be back fresh this week for the O’s to cement their place in first the rest of the way. Manny Machado has been otherworldly, April Jimmy Paredes is back, and Zach Britton is the best closer in baseball right now. Good things are happening.

Remember, the O’s were 1.5 GB of first place at this point last year, and ended up clinching the division with 2 weeks left to play. Sure the O’s still have some issues to resolve (namely Tillman and Norris in the rotation and the surplus of corner OF’s) but if there’s anything I’ve learned the past few years, nobody figures it out better than Buck Showalter. This division has been ours for the taking, and Buck finally has his boys in order. Tampa can’t hit, Toronto can’t pitch, the Yankees are old as balls, and the Red Sox flat out stink. Time to scoooooot.

PS: Travis Snider catch last night was silly, pie-worthy to say the least