Andrew Stetka: Preparing for the postseason

It's obvious that Buck Showalter has done an admirable job in leading the Orioles since 2010 when he took over for Juan Samuel and Dave Trembely before him. Showalter has led the Birds to two postseason berths now and the team heads into this year's playoffs as a division champion for the first time since 1997. There's one thing that could tell you just how good Showalter is in the coming weeks, though, and that's his ability to prepare his team for the postseason. I'm not entirely sure what to expect going forward with this team. They are 11 wins away from winning a World Series for the first time since 1983 and have just as reasonable a chance to do it as any of the other nine teams that will play in October. The O's clinched the American League East on Sep. 16th with a win over the Blue Jays, becoming one of the earliest teams to land a spot along with the Nationals. Since then, Showalter has been forced to balance the importance of resting players to make sure they are healthy enough for October and making sure his team stays in rhythm and is still clicking the way it was during a 96-win season. The Birds were just 5-6 in the final 11 games of the season, which all came after the clinch. Some players were rested with injuries. Others because of the demand of 162 games on the human body, even that of a premiere athlete, is very taxing. Nick Markakis sat for some time with a back injury after being hit with a pitch. Steve Pearce saw a wrist injury crop back up. Adam Jones still played in 159 games this season, sitting out three since the night of the clinch. There's little doubt that the loss of Manny Machado and Chris Davis have impacted the infield defense, and Showalter has been pressed over the last month to figure out if Kelly Johnson, Ryan Flaherty, Jimmy Parades and Steve Pearce will be able to keep up with the gloves. The "next man up" mentality will have to come in to play. There are lots of roster battles that went down over the final few weeks, a strange amount for a team that ran away with its division the way it did. That's where Showalter's job gets tough. There has been a lot made of that balance between rest and recovery over staying sharp. The same held true in the bullpen for Showalter, who used five relievers on Sunday alone just to get them work and keep them fresh. In the short term, relief pitching is one of the large advantages Baltimore will have over its ALDS foe, the Detroit Tigers. It could very well prove to be the difference in a short five-game series. Showalter has a large collection of bullets in that 'pen, and his brilliance in using them will be an important factor going forward. The Orioles had no knowledge prior to Sunday that they'd be facing the Tigers, even though it looked likely for the last few weeks. I have no doubt the team will have done its homework in terms of scouting and preparing for a Detroit squad that beat them five out of six times this year. What I'm unsure of is whether they can turn the switch back on after it was seemingly turned off about two weeks ago. The O's played a lot of mostly meaningless games in that span, and the competitiveness of the team dropped in many people's eyes. The lights will be turned on Thursday and Oriole Park at Camden Yards will be rocking. The only way for Showalter and his bunch to prove that the switch can be flipped, is to go out and beat that stellar pitching staff and powerful offense presented by the Tigers. It's what they worked for all season, and prepared for over the last few weeks.

Those are the most likely opponents for the Orioles this postseason. Who do you want to see?

Andrew Stetka blogs about the Orioles for Eutaw Street Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AStetka. 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.