What to make of O's home-road disparity on offense?

If you thought the 2021 Orioles hit better at home than on the road, you are right. If you thought the difference was pretty vast, you are also right.

In fact, the Orioles were among the top five hitting clubs in the American League this year in a few home games stats. But they ranked at or near the bottom in road game stats.

For instance, take a look at home runs. The Orioles ranked second in the AL in home homers. They were last in homers on the road. In team OPS, they were fifth-best at home. They were tied for last on the road.

Yes, that is a big difference. The good news is that they will continue to get to play half their games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The bad news is that they still must play 81 games each year somewhere else.

I'm not sure what to read into these stats, but there is no denying that when it comes to the team and some of its top players, last year they looked very different when it came to where the game was played.

Orioles at home in '21 (AL rank)
* Batting average - .251 (fifth)
* OBP - .317 (10th)
* Slugging - .443 (fourth)
* OPS - .760 (fifth)
* Homers - 122 (second)
* Runs - 362 (ninth)

Orioles on the road in '21 (AL rank)
* Batting average - .227 (tied, 14th)
* OBP - .291 (tied, 13th)
* Slugging - .361 (15th)
* OPS - .652 (tied,14th)
* Homers - 73 (15th)
* Runs - 297 (15th)

The Orioles' OPS on the road was 108 points less than at Camden Yards. Only Boston had a disparity nearly as big last season. The Red Sox's home OPS was .831 and they were at .724 on the road for a 107-point difference.

The AL average for runs per game last season was 4.60 and the Orioles were under that both home and road, but a lot closer to average at home (4.47) than road (3.67). The league average team OPS in the league was .731, and they were well over at home (.760) and well under (.652) on the road.

The difference was quite big for several players as well. We'll look at the players with the nine most plate appearances from the 2021 season and list the home OPS first.

* Cedric Mullins - .959/.793
* Trey Mancini - .853/.660
* Ryan Mountcastle - .871/.713
* Austin Hays - .852/.693
* Anthony Santander - .849/.609
* Pedro Severino - .755/.629
* Maikel Franco - .607/.610
* DJ Stewart - .801/.574
* Ramón Urías - .800/.751

So seven of those nine players has an OPS at home of .800 or more and five were at .849 or more. On the road, just three players are even over .700.

Several players on this list look like All-Stars at home and mediocre players on the road. It is striking. Again, what to make of it? I'm not sure.

There is also this to keep in mind - the Orioles went 27-54 at home (.333) and 25-56 (.309) on the road. So they won just two fewer games away from Baltimore. Obviously, so much more than offense goes into winning and losing and we are just talking offense here.

Just as an added note, the team ERA at home was 5.99 and it was 5.69 on the road.

So, while it didn't lead to many more wins at home than on the road, there is no doubt the '21 Orioles were a much better offensive team when taking their hacks inside the friendly confines of Oriole Park.

The offseason begins: The Atlanta Braves are World Series champions. They blanked Houston 7-0 last night to win the World Series, four games to two.

In case you still don't think the baseball postseason is a crapshoot, of the 10 teams that began the playoffs, none won less in the regular season than Atlanta's 88 games. Three teams won 100 games and none even made the World Series.

Now the offseason is here. Baseball has to now fully focus on getting a new labor deal done. There is plenty of money for both the players and owners, but will they realize that and avoid a work stoppage?

ALL THE FEELS. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/R8ZACR5NB4

-- ESPN (@espn) November 3, 2021

#For44 pic.twitter.com/5wxEE2i6RO

-- MLB (@MLB) November 3, 2021