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Baltimore Orioles: Is Toronto too hot to handle?

ByDomenic A. Vadala|

If you ask Baltimore Orioles fans, Toronto was never their favorite team to begin with. Everyone remembers the whole Cito Gaston/Mike Mussina controversy – that kind of started the bad blood if you will. Toronto’s always been the kid brother that talks a lot of trash but can never seem to back it up – aside from their two world championships years ago. But is that still the case?

The Darren O’Day/Jose Bautista rivalry has added some spice to this rivlary over the years as well. (And it’s also worth keeping in mind that there are a lot of players around the league who have a problem with Bautista and his in your face type of antics. This along with a lot of fans – and writers.) Last year we saw numerous Orioles hit by Toronto pitchers, specifically in that division-clinching game when Toronto had nothing to lose and the Orioles had everything. 

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    • So if you take that and then throw gas on the fire with the Dan Duquette saga over the winter, and you have two teams that don’t care for each other. However it seems that whatever the Orioles do, Toronto finds a way to stay one step ahead this year. The O’s added a piece (or two) that was direly needed at the trade deadline, and Toronto basically re-makes their entire roster. The O’s take two-of-three in a randon series, and Toronto sweeps an opponent.

    Courtesy of Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports

    So is that how it’s destined to be this year? Will the Orioles have to sit through watching an arch-rival and a team that’s caused them a lot of trouble (on and off the field) ripping their AL East crown from their cold, dead hands? It’s tough to say. I think that most fans would rather not see it put quite like that, however this does appear to be a Toronto team that’s on a mission. And while that mission is to win at all costs, for whatever reason I think they also want to drag the Orioles along through the mud in their wake.

    Toronto has had some rather epic collapses over the years in latter parts of the season. I’ve always thought that there were in fact some problems in their clubhouse given how poorly they’ve played in late season games, however obviously I don’t know that for sure. I suspect that there are some guys who cringe at Jose Bautista’s act; while he’s a great hitter, he’s also someone who can’t seem to keep himself out of controversy. Just as the Kansas City Royals.

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    However the thing with Bautista is that he seems to get stronger with each passing conflict. It’s kind of like how Donald Trump gets more and more popular each time he’s criticized. And while his feud with O’Day is well-documented, I’m not sure the Orioles were his favorite people in the world to begin with – for whatever reason. Bautista is very much the anti-Oriole in that as opposed to rounding the bases and walking back to the dugout after home runs, he lets people know about it.

    The fact is that Toronto has a great roster of players. They know it, their fans know it, and they want the rest of the world to know it also. Whether or not they can beat out New York and the Orioles is another story. However it’s also unclear whether the Orioles can contain Toronto or not. And that’s the big question as we go into the stretch run.

    Next: Baltimore Orioles: Is Dan Duquette mismanaging assets?

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