Some Orioles home run math

Even without Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis, the 2015 Orioles outscored and outhomered the 2014 club. The final runs tally was 713 to 705 and the final homer tally was 217 to 211.

If the O's lost 40 homers from Cruz, 14 from Markakis and six from Steve Pearce, who went from 21 to 15, how in the heck did they hit more this year?

Well, here is some homer math to make it all add up: Two Orioles increased their homer totals by a combined 44 as Chris Davis went from 26 to 47 and Manny Machado from 12 to 35.

Make that 49, adding in Caleb Joseph (seven to nine homers) and Matt Wieters (five to eight home runs). The following players hit 25 more homers this year by either increasing their 2014 total or adding to a total of zero, since they were not on the team last year - Jimmy Paredes, Ryan Flaherty, Chris Parmelee, Gerardo Parra and Nolan Reimold.

So while Cruz, Markakis and Pearce represent a loss of 60 homers from 2014, the other players mentioned gained 74. Makes it a bit easier to go from 211 to 217, even without Cruz and Markakis.

The Orioles are the only major league club with an active streak of four straight years of 210-plus homers, and they had never done that before in team history. They hit 214 in 2012 and 212 the following year. The last big league team to hit 210 or more for four consecutive years was Philadelphia from 2006-09.

Has this year become the homer-happy year in the playoffs? There were 21 home runs hit in the four games yesterday (21-year-old Carlos Correa hit two and the Cubs hit six), the most ever in one day of any postseason. The previous record high was 15 on Oct. 3, 1995.

But even though we are seeing plenty of home run power in the playoffs, any readers here know that many O's fans yearn for a day when their team will be less reliant on the home run and sport a higher on-base percentage.

The 2015 Orioles tied for 12th in the league with a .307 OBP, down from .311 last year, which ranked 11th. The Orioles stole just 44 bases for the second year in a row to rank last each season. The Orioles struck out more in 2015 (from 1,285 times to 1,331). They ranked 13th in walks for the second year in a row.

If the Orioles lose Davis via free agency, they will be losing the major league homer leader for the second year in a row.

But a big question yet again for the Orioles is how to add some OBP. They probably are going to need to add one or two everyday players who can produce a .350 OBP or better to truly make a significant difference. By the way, Markakis, at .370, ranked 18th in the majors in OBP this season.

Some see Parra as a solid OBP guy, but his mark this year overall was .328 and that was with his strong Milwaukee stats. His OBP in 2013 was .323 and was .308 in 2014. He may not be the OBP answer some are looking for.

So what is your take on another year where the Orioles leaned heavily on the longball and how do they get better balance for the offense moving forward?

Get-together this week: Some of the blog readers here have been nice enough to arrange a get-together for us to meet and talk about the Orioles. It is coming up Friday, Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. at:

Looney's Pub
312 S. Main St.
Bel Air, MD 21014
410-803-7080

Hope any of you in the area can come on by, even for a few minutes, to say hello. Looking forward to it! See you there!