The Baltimore Orioles were shockingly swept in their return to the postseason.
Their season ends with a 0-3 defeat (in games) against the Texas Rangers, and two of those games were at home.
It’s not like Texas is bad at baseball: they are a very good team.
It’s just that most people thought the 101-61 Orioles were the favorites over the 90-72 Rangers.
The result of the series was extremely surprising because Baltimore hadn’t been swept in a series since May 2022.
“The Orioles hadn’t been swept since May of last year,” Codify Baseball tweeted.
The Orioles hadn’t been swept since May of last year.
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) October 11, 2023
That’s a long time!
The last time it happened, catcher Adley Rutschman hadn’t been called up.
The Orioles were 16-24 when they gave their star catching prospect the call to the majors; and finished 83-79 last year.
He helped transform the organization from top to bottom, and was one of the most important players behind their 101-win season.
In the 2023 postseason, however, he went 1-for-12 with a .083 batting average and a .321 OPS.
To say that the Orioles go as Rutschman goes would be an accurate statement, even though there are many other factors that make the equation more complex.
The reality is that the Rangers looked fresher, more athletic, and more powerful, too.
Before the start of the series, we all knew the Rangers’ lineup was probably the strongest of the two, and they made their offensive prowess count.
On Tuesday, they chased O’s starter Dean Kremer before finishing the second inning, and it all went downhill for Baltimore from that point forward.
The best team in the American League this year went down in an unprecedented (in 2023, at least) way: swept.
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