masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgThe Orioles began the delayed and shortened 2020 season on July 24 in Boston. And this 60-game campaign will end today in Buffalo as they face the Toronto Blue Jays in the season finale.
As recently as Sept. 8, the Orioles were 20-21 after beating the New York Mets 11-2 and were just a half-game back of the New York Yankees for the final American League playoff spot. But they have gone 4-14 since then falling to 24-35 and now are eight games behind Toronto, which is currently the No. 8 AL…

The Orioles began the delayed and shortened 2020 season on July 24 in Boston. And this 60-game campaign will end today in Buffalo as they face the Toronto Blue Jays in the season finale.

As recently as Sept. 8, the Orioles were 20-21 after beating the New York Mets 11-2 and were just a half-game back of the New York Yankees for the final American League playoff spot. But they have gone 4-14 since then falling to 24-35 and now are eight games behind Toronto, which is currently the No. 8 AL playoff seed. The O’s have lost four of five and eight of 10 games.

Last season, they went 24-52 (.316) versus AL East teams. This season they are 13-26 (.333) against teams in their own division. In 2019, they had their best record against Toronto among the AL East clubs. They went 8-11 against the Blue Jays and 5-4 on the road. This season, their worst performance within the division is against Toronto. They are 1-8 in the season series (1-5 on the road) and have been outscored 54-31. The Orioles went 5-5 against Boston, 4-6 against Tampa Bay and 3-7 versus the New York Yankees.

The Orioles have recorded half of their wins this year on Saturday (6-4) and Sunday (6-3). They are 13-20 at home and 11-15 in road games.

The O’s own a 9-6 (.600) record in 15 day games this season. Their day game record ranks third-best in the AL and fifth in the majors. In 44 night games, the Orioles are 15-29 (.341).

The Orioles lost 5-2 to the Blue Jays last night. They have scored two runs or less 11 times in the past 17 games. The Orioles are 1-10 in those 11 games.

Thumbnail image for Akin-Throws-Gray-Sidebar.jpgLefty Keegan Akin (1-2, 3.57 ERA) will make his sixth start for the Orioles today. Akin has allowed two earned runs or less in four of his five starts and zero earned runs three times. In those five starting outings, he is 1-2 with a 2.79 ERA with eight walks to 30 strikeouts over 19 1/3 innings. Akin has made three of his starts on four days’ rest, as today’s start will be, and he is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.00 in those games, allowing no earned runs in 14 2/3 innings.

Akin has a WHIP of 1.368 and has given up just one homer over 22 2/3 innings. The Orioles are 3-2 in his starts. Lefty batters are hitting .227 with an OPS of .534 against him. Right-handed batters are hitting .250/.716. He allows an average of .190 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

Right-hander Tanner Roark (2-3, 7.01 ERA) gets the start for Toronto. He has a WHIP of 1.740 and allows 11.3 hits per nine innings and 2.9 home runs. He has really struggled in recent games, going 0-2 with a 12.96 ERA over his last two starts. Over his past four outings, he is 0-2 with a 9.14 ERA and a .330 batting average against. In two starts this year against the Orioles, Roark is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

He has big reverse splits. Left-handed hitters are batting .218 with a .754 OPS against him. Right-handers are batting .384/1.228 against him and Roark has allowed 10 of his 14 homers versus righty batters.

Toronto (32-27) has won six of its last seven games and is playing for a higher playoff seeding today. Should the Blue Jays lose, they will be the No. 8 AL seed and open against No. 1 seed Tampa Bay. But if the Yankees lose to Miami and Toronto beats the Orioles, the clubs will finish both at 33-27 and Toronto wins the tiebreaker. That would make Toronto the No. 5 seed and New York No. 8 to face the Rays.

The first tiebreaker is head-to-head games and they split the season series, each winning five games. The second tiebreaker is AL East record. The clubs would be tied at 23-17 with a Toronto win today and New York is already 23-17. The third tiebreaker is record versus division opponents over the last 20 games. With a win today to pull even, the Jays would be 12-8 in their last 20 AL East games, giving them the tiebreaker over the Yankees at 11-9.