Orioles talk about challenge of facing three straight Cy Young winners

If the Orioles want to get the lead in the American League Division Series against Detroit, all they have to do is beat last year's AL Cy Young Award winner in Game 1 today.

After that, they face another former Cy Young winner. And then another. If the series gets to a fourth game they are expected to face Rick Porcello and, hey, he's never won a Cy Young Award.

The Detroit starter today, right-hander Max Scherzer (18-5, 3.15 ERA), won the award in 2013. Game 2 starter Justin Verlander (15-12, 4.54 ERA) was the 2011 winner and Game 3 starter David Price (4-4, 3.59 ERA) was the 2012 winner.

So not only will the Orioles be facing three Cy Young winners, but the most recent three in the American League.

Hope they put their pants on one leg at a time.

"Great arms," O's shortstop J.J. Hardy said. "They have four really good starters we'll have to face. We just have to keep doing what we've been doing. We don't need to change our approach much. Swing the bats like we're capable of."

Before the Orioles took the field for a workout yesterday, Steve Pearce sounded like he very much welcomed the challenge.

"You know what? They are good pitchers, but they have to throw strikes," Pearce said. "The opportunity is there. To be the best, you have to beat the best. They are sending out some great pitchers and it's going to be tough. But that is what the playoffs are. It is going to be tough. We're ready.

"I think it's awesome. I think we get to go out there and face the best. We have a great opportunity to do something special."

Nelson Cruz pondered the challenge when he was asked about it.

"Three Cy Young winners? You don't see that every day, facing them in back-to-back games," Cruz said. "But as a team and a player, we are looking forward to the challenge. We've prepared for this and we're excited. The whole organization and the fans are also excited.

"They are not going to change because it's the playoffs, so we are not going to change either. As a team, we are successful all season doing what we do the best - hit homers."

The Orioles have beaten some top pitchers this year, winning games that started by hurlers like Felix Hernandez, Chris Sale, Masahiro Tanaka, Jon Lester, Garrett Richards, Hisashi Iwakuma and Sonny Gray.

Caleb Joseph noted that when he talked about facing these Tigers starters.

"We faced a lot of good pitchers throughout the season and came out victorious. There is not any added pressure because the guys we are facing may be bigger names with higher payrolls. That has been the case really all season for us," Joseph said.

So the Orioles sound like they are sure up for this challenge. And one thing they know that some may not is that the Orioles' starters posted the fifth-best ERA in the AL this year at 3.61, while Detroit ranked 10th at 3.89.

In September, the O's rotation ERA of 2.45 ranked first in the AL, while Detroit ranked 12th at 3.88.

The Tigers starters sure have impressive resumes, but the next few days provide some Orioles pitchers with the chance to enhance their resumes, as well.

Looking for 50: The Orioles can record their 50th all-time postseason win today at Camden Yards. The Birds own a 49-35 (.583) playoff record.

They are 1-0 in wild card games, 8-5 in the ALDS, 21-16 in the American League Championship Series and 19-14 in the World Series.

The Orioles won the 1996 ALDS over Cleveland, three games to one, and the 1997 ALDS over Seattle, three games to one. They lost in five games to the Yankees in the 2012 ALDS.

Detroit is 4-0 all-time in the Division Series and has impressively won the last three years as a lower seed. In each of those three seasons, they won a Game 5 on the road to take the series, doing that in 2011 against the Yankees and the last two years against the A's.

Fearless prediction: I am picking the Orioles to win this series in five games. It looks like we could be in for a very even, hard-fought series. I think these teams are pretty evenly matched. but I give the Orioles an edge because of their bullpen, their defense, their power and the fact that their starting pitchers can hold their own with Detroit.

I think Buck Showalter has struck the exact right tone with this team since the moment they clinched the AL East all the way through yesterday, when he had the great Brooks Robinson address the team. And the O's have the home field advantage and I expect the fans to make that matter.

This should be fun, Birdland.