Juan Soto’s assessment of the Baltimore Orioles is way off

New York Yankees right fielder Juan Soto is a super-talented ball player. But his baseball analysis skills may be a bit lacking, as evidenced by his evaluation of the Baltimore Orioles’ recent performance.

“At the end of the day, [the Orioles are] playing good baseball,” Soto said after the Yankees failed to lock up the AL East for a second straight game, according to New York Post reporter Greg Joyce . “I bet you everybody in this clubhouse wants to clinch, but it’s just part of it.”

Soto is dead wrong. Before taking the three-game set from the Yankees on Wednesday, the Orioles' only other series win in the month of September came against the historically bad Chicago White Sox .

Baltimore went 10-14 in the four weeks prior to coming into the Bronx for their final regular-season series against the Yankees. That’s not good baseball at all — and it’s why the Bombers brought a six-game lead in the East back from their West Coast trip.

That lead is now down to four games. And if New York doesn’t win Thursday, all it can do is hope that the Orioles don’t ride the momentum from the sweep and win out to end the season. If the two teams end the year with the same overall win-loss total, the O’s get the division because they’ve won the season series versus New York.

So, what Soto sees as a team playing good baseball is really just a struggling squad that was handed the perfect gift: a series against the self-sabotaging Yankees. (See Jasson Dominguez’ outfield miscues and Gleyber Torres’ base-running blunders for more information.)

No one can blame Soto for trying to put a positive spin on the Bombers’ situation. But it would be great to hear some honesty from someone in pinstripes.