Matt Kremnitzer: Orioles shedding underdog status, gaining respect

The Orioles are no longer underdogs

Even though the Orioles finished with six more wins during the regular season, many still viewed the Detroit Tigers as the favorites to win the American League Division Series. And yet the Orioles dispatched Detroit in just three games. Fans drinking nothing but orange Kool-Aid likely would not have even predicted a sweep against Detroit. But the Orioles demonstrated that they had the more complete team.

Before the ALDS, Adam Jones hinted at the team's underdog mentality when he said that the Orioles "weren't supposed to be here. ... We don't care. It's not our decision on what people's opinions are. Due process will happen and that will determine the success or not." The no-respect card is a popular rallying cry among athletes and teams in many sports, so it would not be surprising if more O's players feel the same way. But the Orioles would now have a difficult time convincing anyone that they should still be viewed as underdogs when they face off against the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. Regardless of what anyone thought about the Orioles before, it's clear that they belong.

So the Orioles will have to deal with being the favorites for once, but it's also something they have been building toward for years. In manager Buck Showalter's first full season in Baltimore, the Orioles yet again finished in last place, which they had done every season since 2008. But in the last game of the regular season that year, the O's had their own version of a postseason game, playing spoiler by scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and keeping the Boston Red Sox from making the playoffs.

It may have seemed foolish at the time for a last-place team and its fan base to get so worked up over winning a single game, but in 2012, the second-place Orioles (93-69) finished with their first non-losing season since 1997. They also returned to the postseason, thanks to the new wild card playoff system. They won the wild card game against the Texas Rangers, though they then lost to the New York Yankees in five games in the ALDS. In 2013, the Orioles had a worse record (85-77) and ended the season in a tie for third place in the American League East, but were probably a better team than the year before. They had a better run differential, but were not as fortunate in one-run and extra-inning games.

And now, in 2014, the Orioles (96-66) built a talented, deep team that could withstand the loss of Matt Wieters and Manny Machado to season-ending injuries, the ineffectiveness of free agent acquisition Ubaldo Jimenez and a 25-game suspension to Chris Davis for testing positive for amphetamines. They cruised to the AL East title, and they are now a series win away from the team's first trip to the World Series since 1983. Since that season-ending win over Boston in 2011, the Orioles have a 274-212 regular season record.

You'll often hear that a team has all hands on deck for a must-win or important game. But the Orioles have used a similar philosophy over the years when it comes to improving the overall quality of the team. Showalter and Dan Duquette, the O's executive vice president of baseball operations, have seemingly explored every avenue to make the team better, searching for overlooked or underutilized strategies or ideas to give them any kind of edge.

Some of those tactics include:

* Taking advantage of roster rules.
* Utilizing the Triple-A Norfolk shuttle and rotating pitchers as needed.
* Bringing in overlooked players (Nate McLouth, Delmon Young) and getting production out of them.
* Sending Wieters to Detroit to help scout the Tigers.
* Hiring Rick Peterson and experimenting with biomechanics.
* Offering part-time players a chance to play regularly and keeping them interested in sticking around.
* Constantly communicating with minor league coaches to stay on the same page.
* Continuing to be one of the league leaders in defensive shifting.
* Using platoons.

I'm sure there are more. The Orioles are not afraid to think outside the box, even when it comes to in-game strategy or removing on-deck circles to prevent injury. Every possible advantage helps, which is important for a team with expectations that continue to grow every season.

Matt Kremnitzer blogs about the Orioles at Camden Depot. Follow him on Twitter: @mattkremnitzer. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.