Andrew Stetka: Will homers help O's sink or swim?

We've all heard the saying "chicks dig the longball," and if that's the case, the Orioles must have a ton of female fans. Frankly, I think guys dig the longball just as much. It's exciting, and we men enjoy excitement, too. The Orioles have finished in baseball's top five in home runs every year since 2011. They led MLB last season with 212 bombs and are out in front this year with 188. There's another saying that says you live and die by the home run. When things are going well and the ball is flying out of the park, teams tend to win a lot of games. That's not all that complicated. But for teams like the Orioles, who tend to rely on the homer in order to score, it's also risky. If the homers are coming in waves, the wins aren't always there. Of course, there are other factors to this and a number of other statistics that show the Orioles can score without the homer, but it's the method they use the most. There's another interesting little factoid that comes with the Orioles' homer numbers. The O's have the potential to accomplish something that hasn't been done since the 1996-97 seasons. If Nelson Cruz finishes as the top home run hitter in the American League, it would mark the first time a team has had two different league home run champions in consecutive seasons since Andres Galarraga and Larry Walker did so for the Colorado Rockies. If Cruz finishes atop MLB in homers as Chris Davis did last season for the O's, it would be the first time two different players from the same team have led all of baseball since 1987-88 when Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco did so for the Oakland Athletics. Cruz has obviously put a charge into the home run numbers for the Birds this season. There was more evidence of this in his monster effort on Sunday in a win over the Rays. One of the biggest questions the Orioles will face when they head into the playoffs (and yes, with a magic number of 12, I'm going to say WHEN and not IF at this point, even though some will gripe with me about a jinx) is whether or not the offense will hit a dry spell and the homers will fade away. We saw this happen first-hand in the 2012 American League Division Series against the Yankees. The Orioles are always mocked for their lack of an ace in the rotation and the so-called experts always claim they can't pitch well enough to win in October. Two years ago, that wasn't the case. The O's pitched just as well, if not better than the Yankees in that best-of-five series. The issue was that the bats went away, and they went away quickly. The Orioles don't have a number of players with high on-base percentages. They don't particularly succeed in manufacturing runs and moving runners up. They hit the snot out of the ball and round the bases. I'm as confident as ever in this Orioles team. I've been picking my own brain over the past few weeks as this pennant chase heats up to figure out what my biggest concerns are once the O's get to the postseason. I have a fear of déjà vu and seeing a repeat of 2012. As I wrote last week, I'm enjoying the month of September and the fact that there is such a large lead that the team can coast to a division title. But after that, it's anyone's guess. What are your biggest concerns once the Orioles get into the postseason? Is it the offense? Is it still starting pitching? Is it the depth on the bench or the bullpen? Is it simply who they will match up with in the ALDS and potentially further? There's only a few more weeks left to relax and enjoy the spoils of what is to come. Once the calendar turns, the games get real. 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.