A lot can happen in the span of 18 games. There was that time last year where they were five games over .500 and then they went 3-15 over the next 18 games and the season was effectively ruined. The Orioles have 18 spring training games left in order to get everything settled before it all starts counting.
Can they do it? Probably. I feel like I sound like a broken record in saying this, but a nice way they could show us that things are getting better is if they start winning some of these meaningless games instead of losing them all. A really nice way they could show it would be to start having some better performances from the expected members of the starting rotation.
One of those guys will be getting some work in today. Chris Tillman might well be the Opening Day starter, though we're less than three weeks until Opening Day and this will be his first Grapefruit League action. He'll probably get this and three more games afterwards to get things figured out, if he needs to get things figured out, which hopefully he doesn't.
If you're an MLB.tv subscriber you can listen to today's game on Blue Jays radio, since it's in their spring home of Dunedin. Otherwise you will have to follow this lineup from afar:
1. Joey Rickard CF
2. Ryan Flaherty 3B
3. Jonathan Schoop 2B
4. Pedro Alvarez 1B
5. Nolan Reimold RF
6. Hyun Soo Kim DH
7. Christian Walker LF
8. Paul Janish SS
9. Audry Perez C
SP - Chris Tillman RHP
There are some regulars in this lineup, but it is once again not a lineup that screams that the Orioles are trying everything they can to win this game. So does it really matter if they lose? Probably not, as long as no one gets hurt. It'd be nice if they'd win, though. Cito still sucks.