ALDS – Orioles vs. White Sox
Orioles Road to Baseball Hell: It’s truly hard to express just how bad the Orioles were in 2018. It’s unbelievably hard to win less than 50 games yet Baltimore managed two less than that. With a 48-115 record, the Orioles were the Red Sox of losing baseball games; things were so bad that trading Manny Machado wasn’t even the worst thing that happened to fans.
White Sox Road to Baseball Hell: Four years ago the White Sox decided to trade away its good players and acquire talent that would peak around now. The season came and went without so much as a whimper from the Sox supposed talent as it was another lost year on the South Side. Chicago was the best of the three teams to lose 100-games this year, but that’s the most backhanded compliment you could ask for.
Results
Game 1 – Orioles 0, White Sox 10
Game 2 – Orioles 1, White Sox 0
Game 3 – White Sox 3, Orioles 10
Game 4 – White Sox 6, Orioles 5
Game 5 – Orioles 1, White Sox 0 (F/13)
Winner: Orioles win series 3-1
Somehow, the Orioles did it. Maybe Buck Showalter motivated his guys to give him one last hurrah on his way out the door or maybe the White Sox league-low BABIP, something gave. It was an ugly series, one that saw none of the starters go longer than 5 innings, but Baltimore was able to exploit the massive holes Chicago has.
Namely, the Orioles wouldn’t have what you’d call an explosive offense, but the bats of Mark Trumbo and Adam Jones came alive in late-inning situations. That lined up perfectly with how ineffective the White Sox bullpen was in allowing base runners to get on and then fail to leave them there. The series-deciding game went to extras where the Orioles either drank the Kool-Aid and started believing in themselves, or something terrible happened that set the game of baseball back 100 years. Walk-offs in the postseason — even one taking place in baseball hell — are still cool.
Series MVP: Mark Trumbo (.305/4 RBI/Had the GW-Home Run in Game 5)