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2013 Baltimore Orioles Season Predictions | 2013 Season Betting Preview

2013 MLB Team Preview: Baltimore Orioles

One of the true feel good stories of the 2012 season doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of love ahead of the 2013 season – the longest shot in the AL East.

Odds to Win AL East: +900
Odds to Win World Series: 40/1

The Baltimore Orioles certainly caught lightning in a bottle last year and were the most improbable playoff team in the Bigs in 2012. The trick will be to continue the improbable momentum with an average pitching staff and an average batting order this season.

Probable lineup

1. Nate McLouth, LF
2. J.J. Hardy, SS
3. Nick Markakis, RF
4. Adam Jones, CF
5. Matt Wieters, C
6. Chris Davis, 1B
7. Manny Machado, 3B
8. Wilson Betemit, DH
9. Brian Roberts, 2B

The batting order was the weakness of the Orioles last year and figures to be once again this year. Adam Jones is an absolute stud but injury prone Nick Markakis figures to be the X-factor. If he can stay on the field, the O’s will be at least competitive. The rest of the lineup scares nobody and rightfully so. Young, unproven talent and average veteran talent litter this lineup. To keep up in the AL East, teams have to score and I can’t see the Orioles doing that with any regularity this year.

Probable rotation

1. Jason Hammel
2. Wei-Yin Chen
3. Chris Tillman
4. Miguel Gonzalez
5. Jair Jurrjens

Like the battling order, the starting rotation is not exactly talent-latent. They have some horses in the rotation but none is exactly Cy Young caliber. The rotation’s job will be to keep the games close and let Baltimore’s terrific bullpen do their thing. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]

Bullpen

Closer: Jim Johnson
Setup: Pedro Strop, Darren O’Day, Luis Ayala
Lefty specialist: Brian Matusz
Long reliever: Tommy Hunter

The Orioles had the third best pen in the AL last year and the team returns all of the talent that put them in that spot. There is no reason to think this group won’t be the strength of the team this year. But if the team can’t score runs it won’t really matter what the pen does.

Notable bench players

C Taylor Teagarden, IF Alexi Casilla, IF Danny Valencia, OF Nolan Reimold

The bench is just like the rest of the team – unflattering and just average. No reason to think that one of these role players emerges this year.

Betting Prediction:

A step back is inevitable for the Baltimore Orioles – it is extremely difficult to see them repeating their success from last year. What they do have going for them is their Manager Buck Showalter whose skills style and smarts is worth a few wins by themselves. An elite manager can bring the best out of an average lineup but in this case enough to contend again?

The O’s won’t sneak up on anybody in 2013 – teams will bring their best against them each and every night. The pitching won’t bail them out and the offense likely won’t provide enough run support.

Bottom Line: The Orioles surprised us all last year by finishing 20 games over .500. Everybody was waiting for the wheels to fall off but they never did. This year, my feeling is that the wheels won’t get going at the same pace they did last year and the O’s finish out of a playoff spot – 4th in the AL East.

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By DaveB

Dave B has been a Fantasy Football writer for us for 10 years. A couch potato wannabe, Dave’s insights have been read by 10’s of people for years. He hope’s for world peace + global relaxation. Enjoy and remember only smoke things that are completely natural.