The Baltimore Orioles are on a roll at midseason

What makes the 2022 Baltimore Orioles any different than the 2021 O’s? Well, just take a look at the current standings and you will see a part of the story — but not the whole story so far this season.

As of July 11, the Orioles are moving up in the AL Wild Card  standings

That’s right, the O’s are actually challenging for one of the AL wild card spots this season. As things stand right now, the Orioles are sitting just one game below .500 (43-44) and are just 2.5 games out of reach currently from the third and last wild card berth. We haven’t even hit the All-Star break and the 2022 Orioles are just starting to make believers out of fans and opponents alike.

As of Sunday, the Orioles are coming off of an eight game winning streak, which is the longest the franchise has witnessed since April 22 to May 1, 2005. Wow, 17 years is a long time to wait for a long winning streak. Even more impressive is the fact that the O’s just finished up a seven game undefeated homestand, something they haven’t been able to do since the 2004 season.

Baltimore Orioles: making baseball fun again

Another tale of how this year’s Orioles are making baseball exciting again in the Charm City is that there have been three walk-offs within this latest eight game winning streak. “Making Baseball Fun Again” should be the new mantra for this group of O’s.

With a balance of veteran talent in Trey Mancini, Rougned Odor, Jorge Lopez, and Robinson Chirinos combined with the newer faces such as Austin Hays, Adley Rutschman and Kyle Bradish, this group of Orioles has just found a way to click together and put in a winning effort and are just plain fun to watch. In fact, since the time of Rutschman’s callup in May, the Orioles are sitting at 29-20.

Now, reality does need to set in.  The real grind of the baseball season comes after the All-Star break.

However, if the Orioles can keep this machine moving forward, they are starting to pave a pathway to a winning season and a spot in the postseason.