The Orioles Might Need Pete Alonso To Carry Them To The Playoffs. Lately He Seems Up For It

If the Baltimore Orioles are going to continue their a suddenly-improbable form, and do something in October, Pete Alonso is probably going to have to perform at an MVP level.

Lately, he has been.

Alonso is as game as they come, someone who truly cares about hitting the post everyday and whose consecutive games streak looked in jeopardy late Saturday night when he pulled up lame running to first base. A calf strain is not going to slow him down, especially in the form he’s in, and he has been a beacon in this series with Baltimore’s season on the line, and the Florida native dominates whenever he gets to play in his home state.

Alonso has four straight multi-hit games, willing a listless and tired Orioles lineup back to life. He came through even when asked to bat leadoff the other night and he seems intent on trying to pull this team beyond the mere fringes of the battle for the final Wild Card spot. He came through with go ahead RBIs in a pivotal fifth inning Sunday – it ended up the game-winning hit – and he leads the Orioles with 27 homers and 80 driven in, and it’s not even close; he has seven more homers than Gunnar Henderson for the team lead and 29 more driven in.

Offensively, they will go as far as he takes them (though there is reason to believe Henderson can only get better from here as low as he had fallen). And especially with the Orioles still in Florida (Alonso owned the Marlins when in the NL and now has a career 1047 OPS vs Tampa), he just might be the key to a potential four-game sweep at Tropicana Field tonight that would surely shift the tenor of this languishing season.

“It’s always fun playing well at home,” Alonso said on the Peacock broadcast after Sunday’s 10-2 win. “I’ve got friends and family at every game.”

Can He Carry Them For Six Weeks?

Alonso has been an MVP candidate in the National League for years and he can heat up quickly. This season he has been streaky adjusting to a new league and a new clubhouse for the first time after becoming Baltimore’s first significant outside free-agent signing in quite some time. Alonso showed no signs of Saturday’s injury scare, and it’s going to take more than a calf flare up to get him out of this lineup with so much at stake.

“It’s no big deal - nicks and things happen throughout the season,” he said after the game, in which he served as the designated hitter and Coby Mayo played first base. “I’m just happy to be out here and help this team win.”

He may have to carry them, unless Henderson can really stay hot. Getting Samuel Basallo and Blaze Alexander back from the IL would be huge too, but no one on this roster offers the kid or proven and intimidating bat in this lineup that Alonso does, and he has been quite good since the All-Star break.

Alonso has a .314 batting average since the break (27 games), while getting on base a remarkable 41% of the time, with a .961 OPS. In the month of August he has a 1126 OPS – yeah, that’s MVP stuff – and might have to keep that going if this flawed team is going to hang in the thick of a five-team melee to qualify for the postseason.

Given the wild oscillation in their run production and proclivity for slumps, they wouldn’t even be in this position if not for him leading them in all slugging categories. And Alonso has particularly locked in now. Another big night out of him in the finale at Tampa – former Cy Young caliber arm Shane McClanahan is starting for the Rays – leading to a sweep would make the first four months of the season seem a lot less damning.

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