The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals have dominated all season long, and continued that dominance Tuesday night on their way to division crowns. There are only three divisions in baseball that have pretty much been decided. Two of those divisions are the NL and AL East. Coming in to Tuesday the Nationals lead the Braves by 11.5 games, and the Orioles lead the Blue Jays by 12.5 games. Both first place squads were taking on those second place teams, needing a victory to clinch the division.
The Orioles recently returned to the playoffs just a couple of season ago, but does not have a division title to their name since 1997. The Orioles 8-2 win over the Blue Jays Tuesday changed all of that, and the way they did it is the way they've been winning games all season. That's by producing runs from unlikely sources, and without dominant starting pitching. Ubaldo Jimenez went just 5 innings, striking out 6, and the O's had to use a total of 5 pitchers with a 6-run lead. Those 5 pitchers only gave up a combined 4 hits.
The Orioles also got contribution offensively from the unlikely contributors. Steve Pearce hit a 3 run shot (his 18th), and Jimmy Paredes hit his 2nd home run of the year. Recently acquired Alejandro De Aza drove in 3 for the O's, who have taken the first 2 games of the series from the Blue Jays.
The Nationals continued to take advantage of the struggling Braves with tonight's 3-0 win in Atlanta to clinch the NL East. It's the Nats' 2nd division crown in 3 years. Tanner Roark threw 7 innings of shutout baseball for the Nationals, with Clippard and Storen shutting it down in the 8th & 9th. Ian Desmond continued his 20-20 season with his 23rd home run of the season that got the Nats on the board. The Braves managed just 5 hits on the night and fell 1 game under .500.
The Orioles recently returned to the playoffs just a couple of season ago, but does not have a division title to their name since 1997. The Orioles 8-2 win over the Blue Jays Tuesday changed all of that, and the way they did it is the way they've been winning games all season. That's by producing runs from unlikely sources, and without dominant starting pitching. Ubaldo Jimenez went just 5 innings, striking out 6, and the O's had to use a total of 5 pitchers with a 6-run lead. Those 5 pitchers only gave up a combined 4 hits.
The Orioles also got contribution offensively from the unlikely contributors. Steve Pearce hit a 3 run shot (his 18th), and Jimmy Paredes hit his 2nd home run of the year. Recently acquired Alejandro De Aza drove in 3 for the O's, who have taken the first 2 games of the series from the Blue Jays.
The Nationals continued to take advantage of the struggling Braves with tonight's 3-0 win in Atlanta to clinch the NL East. It's the Nats' 2nd division crown in 3 years. Tanner Roark threw 7 innings of shutout baseball for the Nationals, with Clippard and Storen shutting it down in the 8th & 9th. Ian Desmond continued his 20-20 season with his 23rd home run of the season that got the Nats on the board. The Braves managed just 5 hits on the night and fell 1 game under .500.
