What it looks like after 18 games

So the Orioles have played about 11 percent of the 2021 season. That is a sample, but a small one. Can we make any judgments from that? We can, but you run the risk of being wrong.

Well, that's never stopped us before.

At 8-10, the Orioles are playing .444 baseball. That is better than their .417 win percentage from last year when they were 25-35. A team playing at a win percentage of .444 for a full season would go 72-90. That is probably better than many projected. And maybe better than projected by one outlet of the Orioles having a 0.0 chance of making the playoffs.

Spoiler alert: The club's 2021 playoff chances are still very low!

But the team has gotten outstanding starting pitching from lefty John Means, who had a 1.52 ERA in his last four starts last year and has a 1.52 ERA in his first four this year. Matt Harvey and Bruce Zimmermann have been solid at times and showing signs of being better than that. Zimmermann already has two six-inning outings and is the only starter other than Means to get that far. Harvey's 1.4 walk rate is outstanding and Zimmermann has an ERA of 4.57 after yesterday, when basically one pitch beat him.

The jury is out on the rotation as a whole, but in seeing Jorge López and Dean Kremer throw well in their last games, there is reason for optimism with the starting five.

The O's bullpen is where the ERAs look real good for pitchers like Paul Fry, Adam Plutko, Tanner Scott and César Valdez, to name a few. The bullpen ERA is 1.82 over the last nine games and 3.38 for the season. That ranks sixth-best in the American League, where just four teams right now sport 'pen ERAs under 3.00. This unit is trending up and the Orioles have done a good job with handling their long men like Wade LeBlanc, Tyler Wells and Plutko eating some innings when needed.

The O's defense is a work in progress. Anthony Santander made a game-winning play in New York and Austin Hays made a great catch in Tuesday's win. Freddy Galvis and Rio Ruiz turned the double play of the year so far this season in Texas. But there have been breakdowns out there also, missed cutoff men and miscues contributing to either losses or escalating the pitcher's pitch count.

The offense has already been shut out three times. They need some of their middle-of-the-order guys to get hot and soon. Galvis and Maikel Franco have picked it up after a slow start. The O's are not getting much from their catchers right now. Plenty of room for improvement here lineup-wide.

In their eight wins, the Orioles are batting .262 and have scored 47 runs. In their 10 losses, they have hit .178, scoring just 24 runs.

When they score three runs or less, they are 1-8. When getting four or more they are 7-2. Big difference.

So far, with the team on a 72-win pace, they are pretty much about who we thought they were. But a long way to go and as stated previously, there is a lot more yet to learn about this club.

Hunker down for the long summer and we're just getting started.

Only 144 games to go.

At the alternate site: The Orioles are 3-0 against the Washington Nationals in games between alternate site camps. That is what we know from three box scores the team provided on the O's player development Twitter account here.

On April 13, the Orioles won 9-3. Three days later they won 8-7, and on Tuesday, the Orioles won 10-3 as Zac Lowther allowed one run over four innings with five strikeouts.

I went through the box scores and compiled three-game totals for some of the individual hitters. Here is a rundown:

* Richie Martin, 3-for-4 with a double and walk.
* Tyler Nevin, 1-for-10 with a double.
* Jahmai Jones, 7-for-10 with two doubles and two home runs.
* Rylan Bannon, 2-for-8 with an RBI.
* Seth Mejias-Brean, 3-for-8 with a double and an RBI.
* Stevie Wilkerson, 4-for-12 with a double and three RBIs.
* Austin Wynns, 1-for-2 with a homer.
* Taylor Davis, 1-for-6 with an RBI.
* Yusniel Diaz, 2-for-3 with a home run.
* Brett Cumberland, 2-for-6 with a double and RBI.
* Chris Shaw, 4-for-7 with a double.
* Mason McCoy, 3-for-9 with a double, homer and four RBIs.
* Pat Valaika, 2-for-9 with a double and RBI.
* Ryan Ripken, 4-for-9 with a double and two RBIs.