Unusual stat could be a good omen for Orioles' pennant chances

The Baltimore Orioles will come out of the All-Star break on Friday with a one-game lead in the AL East and sitting just 0.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the best record in the junior circuit.

Nearly 25% of their 38 losses this season have come via two five-game losing streaks, but outside of the pair of skids, the Orioles have been the best team in MLB. They haven't been under .500 all year long, and on Friday morning, MASN's Roch Kubatko shared an unusual statistic regarding Baltimore's impressive first half.

The Orioles were the class of the American League for much of a near-two-decade stretch from 1966-1983, led by Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver and Hall of Fame players Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer. They won their first World Series in 1966 with manager Hank Bauer in his penultimate full season at the helm and made three more Fall Classics under Weaver from 1969-1971, winning it all in 1970.

After a pair of defeats to the Oakland Athletics in the 1973 and 1974 ALCS, the O's missed the postseason four straight times from 1975-1978 before getting back on track in 1979. Baltimore led MLB with its 102-57 mark that year but ultimately fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates in that season's World Series.

The Orioles won another championship in 1983 but haven't made it back to the Fall Classic since then.

They've had a stunning rise from cellar dwellers (100-plus loss seasons in 2018, 2019 and 2021) to serious World Series contenders under manager Brandon Hyde. The 50-year-old led the team to 83 wins in 2022 and 101 last season, when he earned the AL Manager of the Year Award.

With AL MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson and AL Cy Young contender Corbin Burnes already in stow, this could be the year for Baltimore to make it back to the World Series. There's also been speculation that it could make a hard push to acquire Detroit Tigers All-Star ace Tarik Skubal, which would give the roster a pair of elite No. 1's at the top of the rotation.