Dillon Atkinson: Identity of 2016 Orioles should be revealed by All-Star break

After posting a 14-9 record in April to start the season, the Orioles followed up with a rocky month of May, going 14-13 during that span. Prior to the series in Houston last week, the O's were 12-7 in May, which means they went just 2-6 to cap off the month. If you're an O's fan, I'm sure you've been pretty frustrated over the past week or so. Both the pitching and offense seem so flat.

In the past two weeks, the Orioles' pitching staff has a 4.50 ERA (5.08 FIP). A few weeks ago, my colleague Ryan Romano discussed the impressive lack of longballs given up by O's pitchers. He predicted that the Orioles' success in this field wouldn't sustain, and he was right. Over the last two weeks, Orioles pitchers have given up 22 dingers, which is the most in the American League and second-most in all of baseball. On the offensive side over the past two weeks, the Birds are slashing just .229/.291/.389 with an 80 wRC+. The 80 wRC+ ranks second-worst in the American League and tied for eighth-worst in the majors. Over this same time period, the Orioles have the second-highest strikeout rate in the majors at 27.5 percent. You can really thank the Astros series for that.

It's obvious the Orioles are in a funk. The Birds have had two separate seven-game winning streaks already this season though, so there should be hope that this team will bounce back and get on a winning roll again. The team has had some ups and downs already through the first two months, but have we seen the real 2016 Orioles yet? I'm not exactly sure we have, and I'm also not exactly sure if it's a good or bad thing.

The Orioles own a 28-22 record heading into June, so you'd imagine they're in good shape. Which, as far as the standings go, they're not really in all that bad of shape to this point. But what sticks out to me are the splits. The Birds are 17-10 at Camden Yards and 11-12 on the road this season. They might be able to stay in good shape if they continue to dominate at home and hover around .500 on the road. However, they're not making it so promising by dropping the first two games of the current 10-game homestand. What also sticks out to me is the record against winning and losing ballclubs. The O's are 11-13 this season against teams that are currently over .500, while they're 17-9 against clubs that are under .500.

From the beginning of June up to the All-Star break, the Orioles have 37 games - 20 at home, 17 on the road. Of the 37 games, 23 of them are against ballclubs that are currently over .500. Also, 15 of the 17 away games are against teams over .500, although 12 of the 20 home games are against teams under .500. So the Birds will need to get away from their funk as soon as possible. They need to take advantage of the games at home against sub-.500 teams because facing the good teams on the road isn't going to be too much fun, I would assume.

August and September are certainly going to be a challenge for the Orioles, but neither one of those months will matter unless the Orioles end their losing ways of late and take care of business leading up to the All-Star break. The O's issues this season have been from playing against teams that have a winning record and playing teams on the road. In the next 37 games, the Birds will be put to the test with both of these. They will need to get over both humps if they plan on playing playoff baseball this fall. The way this team plays in the next month and a half will reveal the true identity of the 2016 club. You're not going to be playing postseason baseball if you can't compete and defeat the good teams, as well as be able to win on the road. The next 37 games will show whether or not the Birds can do either of those.

Dillon Atkinson blogs about the Orioles for Orioles Uncensored. Follow him on Twitter: @DAtkinsonOU. 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.