A few notes on Orioles and Tigers in advance of ALDS

Finally, the regular season is over. Clinching early seemed great at the time for the Orioles, but it sure meant a lot of less than exciting baseball was played for nearly two weeks. The Orioles went 5-6 in the 11 games since they clinched the American League East on Sept. 16. They had some less than stellar play since then, especially on defense. This has led some fans to be concerned that the Orioles intensity level, which took a hit after they clinched, will be an issue in the playoffs. Well, I'm here to say that will not be close to the truth. The Orioles, and their fans, will be at a fever pitch come game time on Thursday. Due to their playoff experience and starting pitching, some analysts will no doubt pick the Detroit Tigers to beat the Orioles in the American League Division Series. This no doubt will lead to much angst among O's fans who hate anything they perceive as a lack of respect from the national media. Well here is one for you - MLB Network's Dan Plesac predicted the Orioles will win the AL title. He added that they will play the Nationals in the World Series. On a network playoff special last night, John Smoltz picked the Tigers and Bill Ripken picked the Orioles in this series. The likely Game 1 starters are Max Scherzer (18-5, 3.15 ERA) against Chris Tillman (13-6, 3.34 ERA). Tillman has been confirmed to make that start by the Orioles. While Scherzer did not pitch against the Orioles this season, Tillman made the start April 6 and pitched the O's to their only win against Detroit in the season series. Over 8 1/3 innings, he gave up five hits and one run, and threw 113 pitches. The Orioles pitching was tremendous this season and it seemed to be better as the season got longer. At the end of April, the O's team ERA was 4.49 and it was 4.18 when May came to a close. It was 3.83 at the All-Star break and the final mark was 3.43 to rank third best in the AL. That is the best by an Orioles team since the 1979 AL champs posted a 3.26 mark. After the All-Star break, the O's team ERA was 2.88 as the club went 44-24 (.647). A look at O's pitching the last three years: 2012: A 3.90 team ERA to rank sixth in the AL. 2013: A 4.20 team ERA to rank 10th in the AL. 2014: A 3.43 team ERA to rank third in the AL. The Orioles went 1-5 versus the Tigers this season. Detroit was the only team to sweep three straight from the Orioles at Camden Yards. But these clubs have not met since May 14 when Detroit completed that sweep in Baltimore. The Tigers took two of three in Detroit in the second series of the year. The Orioles were outhit 55-47 in the season series, out-homered 9-3 and outpitched as Detroit posted an ERA of 3.33 to the Orioles 5.54. Here is a note from ESPN Stats and Info: The total of 4,186 homers hit this season was 475 fewer than last year (over 10 percent), and the fewest in a season in the 30-team era. Maybe that is one edge the O's have on some teams. They didn't drop off this year in hitting homers unless you consider the 211 they hit in 2014 a dropoff from the 212 they hit in 2013. While many teams were hitting fewer homers this season, the O's were hitting about the same amount, even without getting 53 from Chris Davis. They did get 40 from Nelson Cruz, who led the majors. The Orioles are the fourth team since 1920 to have two players win the home run title in consecutive years with Cruz and Davis. They join the 1936-37 Yankees (Lou Gehrig 49 and Joe DiMaggio 46), 1987-88 Athletics (Mark McGwire 49 and Jose Canseco 42), and 1993-94 Giants (Barry Bonds 46 and Matt Williams 43). By the way, the Orioles last won the World Series in 1983. The Tigers last won the World Series in 1984. There have been 18 different teams to win it all since then. The chase to win it all this October begins for the Orioles and Tigers on Thursday.