Is there a lesson for the Orioles from the 2023 postseason results?

Major League Baseball moved to a 12-team playoff field, six from each league, for the 2022 season. We have just two years under the new format.

But after the Orioles pushed so hard and worked so hard for so long to hold off Tampa Bay and win the AL East, they would join three other teams that had five days off getting byes in the wild card round, by losing in the Division Series.

In two years under this format, teams that won 100 or more games have gone 1-5 in the Division Series. 

Last year the top seeds were Houston and the New York Yankees in the AL and Atlanta and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL. They went a combined 2-2 in the Division Series.

This year the top seeds were Baltimore, Houston, Atlanta and the Dodgers and they went 1-3 in the DS. 

For two years getting the bye mostly led to a team saying goodbye in that first series.

So what is the message for the Orioles here? Anything to learn from this? 

Beyond that you just need to get into the dance and then roll the dice, I'm not sure there is too much to learn. A team cannot play to earn a wild card spot but try to avoid winning a division and getting a bye. 

The message from this year's results is also that over a long season of 162 games teams can play sub-par baseball for long stretches and still wind up in the World Series.

According to the great Sarah Langs of MLB.com, the Diamondbacks went 16-34 (.320) over a span from June 13-Aug. 11 and that’s the lowest win pct in a 50-game stretch by an eventual pennant winner.

Also, this year from Aug. 16-Sept. 8, Texas went 4-16 and was outscored by 61 runs. So, one WS team played .320 ball over a 50-game stretch, and another played .200 ball over a 20-game span. I find that pretty remarkable.

Just get in the dance and roll the dice.

Texas lost three of four games in the final weekend to let the AL West get away. In the end did that actually help the Rangers? To me, teams that go deep in October build momentum early in the playoffs and then ride that wave. Texas built momentum versus Tampa Bay and then carried it to get past both the Orioles and Astros.

Of the 12 teams to make the 2023 postseason the last two standing ranked tied for sixth and 12th in regular season wins.

On a side note, the AL East sent three teams to the playoffs, but went a combined 0-7 this October.

In 2021, Arizona lost 110 games and Texas lost 102. Last year the Rangers were 68-94 and the D-backs were 74-88. 

If the standard is winning the World Series, there is some parity in baseball. Per Baseball America's JJ Cooper, this World Series gives us the ninth different NL World Series and the seventh different AL WS participant since 2010.

Also, 20 of the 30 MLB teams have made the World Series since 2001.

There has not been a repeat champion since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000. Since 2013, the AL has won five WS and the NL has won five also.

This year road teams are 22-14 in the playoffs and teams that out-homer their opponent are 21-4 after going 22-6 last year.

The numbers are all interesting and fun to look at. 

This year showed that a team can play horrid baseball for 50 games and still make the World Series. The message is simple - over 162 games, do enough to get into the dance and try to build momentum from there. Easy to say, hard to do. 

Changes coming on the pitching staff: As first reported on MASNSports.com yesterday, neither Chris Holt nor Darren Holmes will return as O's pitching coaches for next season. Holt will stay with the club and continue on as director of pitching, but Holmes is leaving the organization.

Click here for more on this story, which notes that the rest of the coaching staff is expected to return next season.

The O's pitching staff posted an ERA of 3.89 in 2023 to rank fifth in the AL and seventh in MLB. After the All-Star break the O's staff had an ERA of 3.58 to rank first in the AL and third in MLB. The O's rotation posted an ERA of 3.74 after the All-Star game.

It was a season where the rotation made improvement throughout the year and Kyle Bradish finished third in the AL and fourth in MLB in ERA. Grayson Rodriguez pitched to an ERA of 2.26 his last 12 regular-season starts. The Orioles went 24-8 in Dean Kremer's starts and Kyle Gibson tied for first in the league in starts, tied for third in wins and was sixth with 192 innings.