Baltimore Orioles: Three players who can help in the second half

After the Baltimore Orioles began the 2017 season on a high note, the rest of the season has been difficult to watch.

The Baltimore Orioles are entering the second half of the season with a 42-46 record four games out of the Wild Card.

Fortunately, there is some parity in the American League, so the O’s are in a gloom-and-doom situation at all.

In fact, the overall American League standings are still rather tight. Of the 15 teams, 8 have records below .500. The best record in the AL belongs to the Houston Astros with a .674 record of 60-29. No one in the AL West is even close, but in the East and Central, there isn’t much dividing the top and bottom teams. In both the East and Central, there is less than .100 dividing the first place and the last place teams. Those are records that could easily be changed by one or two series surprises.

The Orioles finished the month of April with a record of 15-8. They took series wins against all of their division rivals, even getting wins against tough pitchers like Chris Archer and Rick Porcello. The Birds even made it to the end of May with a winning record of 26-24.

Then, June happened. And the losses began to pile up. The pitching fell apart in the 20-game streak between June 3 through June 23. Even the beginning of July looked hopeless with five losses in a row in Milwaukee and Minnesota. But, the last two games of the first half showed promise as the bats came to life and opposing runs were held to a minimum.

As the Orioles start the second half against the reigning World Series Champions Chicago Cubs, let’s take a look at a few players who could help turn the record around.