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| Adam Jones a big part of the Oriole's success this season. Photo Credit: AP |
Tuesday night proved to be a night to remember for baseball fans residing in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area. Both the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals clinched their respective divisions and have set themselves up to not only be in the postseason, but make a deep run in it.
By: Michael Hanley
Let us start with the Nationals, who completed a whirlwind run to the NL East Division title by knocking off the Braves 3-0 at home. The game is significant in only that it allowed to put the final nail in the Braves coffin for any division championship hopes. More significant is how Washington got to this point in the first place.
The Nationals were that a few months into the season, struggling to live up to the sky high expectations that not they put on themselves but also the expectations from fans & the media as well. You kept looking at their roster and seeing the many talented pieces they had and wondered would they come together as a cohesive group and finally start playing consistently good baseball.
It was earlier in the season when the Nationals actually were behind the Braves in the NL East standings, by as much as four games, when their starting rotation was not clicking and the lineup was blowing hot and cold when it came to producing consistent offense from game to game. The sense was around baseball that Atlanta was about ready to make a push and yard the Nationals like they did last year when they won the NL East going away.
To their credit through they pushed through their doldrums and got hot at the right time, starting in late July. From that point on, Washington has played their best baseball, ripping off a 19-10 month of August that propelled their division lead to double digits and turning clinching into a mere formality.
For the Orioles, this was a moment that the franchise and its fan base has been waiting for since 1997, the last time they ended u popping champagne and celebrating an AL East Division Title.
They did it in grand fashion as they clinched the division holding a 13 1/2 game lead over the second place Blue Jays, who they just so happen to defeat last night 8-2, to clinch the division title. It was a team often that counted on many of its role players than just its stars to help and win games and series.
A player such as Steve Pearce is a perfect example of a player who came into this season and not allot of expectations were put on him to be a major contributor in the lineup. He has more than delivered this season as he has hit 18 home runs for the ball club, more than all the combined home runs he hit as a part time player in a six year span from 2007-2013. Jimmy Paredes & Alejandro De Aza are other players who have come to Baltimore and made a big impact in a short amount of time.
Baltimore emerged from what was a tight division race for most of this season. As recent as early August they only had a four game lead at the time, anything other than a comfortable, commanding lead in their pocket. As the month wore on and a new month started, the Orioles kicked it into high gear as they went 27-11 over a 38 game stretch that had them pulling away from the rest of the division and making clinching the division title just a matter of when.
It is even more impressive how the Orioles, an organization that does not throw money around allot to players, defeated ultimately the Yankees, who freely spend money every season like few others, the Red Sox coming off a World Series title, Toronto with their offense and high payroll plus the Rays with their depth in starting pitching. This is no small feat for the Orioles and it is one that will be cherished for a longtime to come.
So both the Nationals and Orioles are locked into postseason spots now. Winning division titles are a tremendous accomplishment especially considering the 162 game regular season schedule every team must play. But everyone knows it comes down to what teams do in the postseason and both the Nats and Orioles have an opportunity to add some more pennants to their collection this season if they can get hot in the playoffs.
For this night, though, it is a time to celebrate for all the fans of both fan bases, who have suffered through allot of lean years to get to these happy days.
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