3 biggest concerns going into the Orioles' ALDS matchup with the Rangers

The Baltimore Orioles' are set to begin the ALDS against the Rangers at 1:03 PM EST today in what should be a fantastic matchup. The Rangers are coming off a very convincing series win over the always tough Rays while the Orioles put together the best regular season in the entire American League in 2023.

So far, it appears as though Baltimore remains the favorites to win the series if most of the experts are to be believed, but this series is not a gimme by any stretch of the imagination. Here is a look at some of the biggest concerns Orioles fans should have going into Baltimore's matchup with the Rangers in the ALDS.

The Rangers' offense is legitimately scary

Much has been made of the Braves' record-breaking offense in 2023, but the Rangers have been quite impressive at the plate in their own right. In all of baseball, the Texas offense ranked third this season in fWAR, fourth in wRC+, fourth in homers, and led the entire American League in runs scored.

While the Rangers have gotten contributions from up and down their lineup, the key to the series is going to be for Baltimore to find a way to contain Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, and Adolis Garcia. Seager has a legitimate MVP case despite missing a big chunk of time due to injury and has a history of big time postseason performances. Semien's all-around game is likely to give Baltimore fits while Garcia has the sort of big time power that can change a game with one swing of the bat.

Keeping pace with the Rangers' offense isn't impossible especially if Baltimore's young bats show up under the bright lights, but it isn't fair to expect a couple runs a game to be enough to win games in this series especially with the Orioles being without their best bullpen arm, Felix Bautista.

Will Baltimore's youth be a blessing or a curse?

The one thing that we don't know going into the ALDS is how Baltimore's relative lack of postseason experience is going to manifest itself. There is no denying that the Orioles are loaded with young talent that has taken the league by storm this season, but playing in the postseason is a different animal and Baltimore just doesn't have many guys that have been in this environment before.

With their best hitters being Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman and both of them being really young, there is a chance that all of the pressure of the playoffs gets to them as we have seen elsewhere in the past. This also applies to the pitching staff and guys like Grayson Rodriguez. Sure, they have all the talent in the world, but will they be able to perform against a very tough lineup when the season is on the line? That remains to be seen.

The nice thing here is that this could go both ways. Nerves and inexperience can be a curse, but it could also be a blessing. This Baltimore team may actually be young enough that they just don't know any better and could be looser and more energetic than one would think in the postseason. After all, they didn't fold down the stretch during a tough race with Tampa for the AL East title, so why would this series be any different?

Can the Orioles' offense turn things around after a mediocre September?

Objectively, the Baltimore offense has been a very solid in 2023 ranking 11th in fWAR in all of baseball at 23.1 and they are only that low due to some less than great defensive numbers. Their team wRC+ is tied for 10th with the Phillies at 105 which is quite good. Again, not overwhelmingly dominant per se, but very, very solid overall.

However, the story is a little different if you look at the last month of the regular season. Baltimore dropped to being a middle of the pack offense in September in virtually every offensive category. The wins kept coming down the stretch, but they didn't come quite as easily.

Being mediocre at the plate for a month isn't the end of the world by any stretch and is to be expected to happen to every team at some point. It is certainly possible that the fatigue of the long regular season had started to set in and the week long break with the bye ends up being exactly what the doctor ordered.

If Baltimore wants to beat the Rangers, though, they are going to have to bring their "A" game on offense because as we all saw in the Rays series, Texas is not messing around.

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