How should the Baltimore Orioles play the Toronto series?

First off let’s be frank; mathematically the Baltimore Orioles still have an opportunity to clinch home field advantage throughout the MLB playoffs this weekend. However one loss OR one Anaheim win puts that to bed. And quite frankly, it seems that the O’s have been content with that eventuality ever since they clinched the AL East title last week.

So any talk of whether or not the O’s should go full-throttle in these final games needs to begin and end with the fact that they almost have to while they’re still playing for something. However as I said above, if the Orioles drop a game or Anaheim wins one the rest of the series and thus the rest of the regular season is truly rendered meaningless. But while the Orioles might not be gunning all in for the best record in the American League, they do have somewhat of an obligation to go for it as long as it’s still available to them.

Incidentally, if the O’s sweep Toronto and Anaheim is swept by Seattle the Orioles win by virtue of a tiebreaker by winning the season series.

So let’s assume for one moment that at some point somewhere along the way this weekend, the Orioles are eliminated from having the best record in the American League. First off, it can’t be stated enough that teams such as the Baltimore Orioles, Anaheim, and Washington earned the right to play so many (quasi)-meaningless games in September. And that’s not something that should be taken lightly. However Buck Showalter finds himself in a very similar situation to perhaps the final week of spring training in that he’s trying to figure out who will be on the playoff roster.

Teams get 25-man rosters in each round of the playoffs. I would submit that third base is the most pressing position that requires the attention of Showalter and Dan Duquette. They’re needing to figure out in effect who will be starting at the hot corner – as I said this morning, I’d go with Ryan Flaherty. But I would also say that Kelly Johnson should make the roster. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see lots of movement at the hot corner this weekend to give those two and perhaps even Jimmy Paredes (who I think is a long shot at this point) a chance to make their final cases.

But again, how important are these games? It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see several starters in each game play for five or six innings and then lifted. This is always a tough line to toe for teams in the Orioles’ position; you always want to keep your guys spry and fresh, however you want to give them some rest as well. The Orioles also have to be wary of the fact that they’ll fly home after plaing game 162 on Sunday afternoon, not to take the field again until Thursday. That type of layoff is unheard of during the season, aside from the all-star break.

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Photo: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

uck Showalter has said that Monday will be an entire team day off for everyone. The O’s will have on-field workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The post season schedule hasn’t formally been announced in terms of times yet, however we do know that the O’s will play at home on Thursday and Friday. This is only a hypothesis at this point, however TBS’ window for the MLB playoffs Thursday appears to be from 6 PM into the early morning hours of Friday morning. It would stand to reason that the O’s would draw the 6 PM timeslot given the fact that the Angels would be the other game in play that night.

Stay tuned to birdswatcher.com for the schedule when it’s officially released, however the fact remains that odds are we’ll be seeing some glorified spring training games this weekend. One thing that the O’s do need to consider however is the opponent. As I said this morning, Toronto has shown the propensity to hit Oriole batters this year and especially of late. The last time around they seemed to want to bait the Orioles into a brawl at a very inconvenient moment. Teams often act up when the stakes are low, which they will be this weekend. If one guy gets hit suspisciously, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see wholesale changes in the field the following inning.

Ultimately the O’s need to toe the line between resting players, shoring up their post season roster, and being able to avoid going into the playoffs on a cold streak. While the layoff might well wash away any would-be bad memories of a lacadasical weekend at Rogers Centre, you don’t want to go into the playoffs while playing poorly. Because before we know it Thursday will be here, and the games will go from meaningless to counting more than anyone could have ever imagined them counting.