Orioles are the one team that knows how to avoid a sweep
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ARLINGTON -- Ninety-one. That’s how many series have come and gone since the Orioles were last swept.
Spring has turned to summer and summer has turned to fall for almost two full seasons, with the one constant being the O’s capacity for not going winless in multiple tries against the same opponent.
It’s the third-longest streak of consecutive regular-season series of two or more games without being swept, behind only the 1903-05 New York Giants -- who managed to stay unscathed in 106 straight series when teams attempted to break out the brooms -- and the 1942-44 St. Louis Cardinals, who went a whopping 125 series without allowing a sweep.
The last team to deal the Orioles a series sweep? The Detroit Tigers, who won three straight games from May 13-15, 2022.
How different were the O’s then? Adley Rutschman hadn’t even made his Major League debut yet. That came two series later on May 21 vs. the Rays.
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Rutschman hasn’t known a world in which the Orioles weren’t able to bounce back quickly from defeats.
“Our team is really process-oriented,” Rutschman said. “So each game is a new game, and we try and treat it as such and learn from anything from the day before and then move on. Our guys do a good job of banding together and trying to just focus on the here and now.”
On Tuesday night in Texas, the Orioles will face their toughest test yet. Down 2-0 in the American League Division Series despite home-field advantage, the AL’s No. 1 seed is barreling toward the prospect of a sweep at the most inopportune time.
As a regular-season streak, an ALDS sweep would not snap it. But it would bring a seemingly premature end to the O’s high hopes this postseason.
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According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs and the Elias Sports Bureau, the Orioles are the 17th team to reach the postseason after not having been swept in any series of two or more games during the regular season, excluding 2020.
Of the prior 16 teams, only the 1998 Padres (who happened to be managed by none other than now-Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy) were then swept in a postseason series.
“I think the only way to go about it is to flip the page, turn the page, find a way to come out tomorrow and win a baseball game,” said infielder Ryan O’Hearn. “We know our back’s against the wall. We know where we’re at in the season. And, personally, I’m not ready to be done playing with these guys. I think we got a lot left to give. Hopefully we can win the next three, but it starts with one at a time.”
At Globe Life Field on Monday afternoon, as the Orioles prepared for Game 3 against a Rangers team that stole the first two contests in Baltimore, they took comfort in the fact that they’ve been in this position before. The stakes may be higher than they’ve ever been, but the O’s know they have to focus on the factors that are still in their control, instead of lamenting the missed opportunities behind them.
Otherwise, they’ll be on a flight home Wednesday.
“Honestly, [it’s] just focusing on the game that’s in front of us, not trying to look too far ahead,” said outfielder Austin Hays. “Just come in, know who you’re facing that day, build a solid plan, and [have] everybody one through 14 on the offensive side of the ball buy into it. And just as a collective unit, not give in. Don’t give in to one pitch. Don’t give one at-bat away. And if you do that for an entire series, you’re bound to get a win if everybody’s buying into the same plan.
“So that’s kind of where we’re at now. We’re just going to build a solid plan. We’re all going to buy into it together, and we’re just going to keep chipping away at it until we get a win tomorrow.”
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That could be a tall task for the O’s given how the series has gone so far, but it’s one that doesn’t seem to faze them.
“We’ve been really consistent all year,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We’ve had two bad games in a row before where we haven’t won. No different here, except for the season’s on the line. We’re going to be staying positive tomorrow. We believe in our guys.”