5 Reasons to Be Optimistic for Baltimore Orioles' 2015 Season

Birdland, the wait is nearly over.

Opening Day is just three days away. On April 6th, the Baltimore Orioles will begin their 162-game regular season against the Rays in Tampa Bay.

The Orioles will send righty Chris Tillman to the mound, as he'll be making his second consecutive Opening Day start. Opposite the O's, the Rays will have young-gun starter Chris Archer toeing the rubber.

The O's are coming off of their first division title and ALCS appearance since 1997, and Birdland is hoping for an even better outcome this time around. Believe it or not, the idea isn't so far-fetched.

For Orioles fans, there's plenty to be excited about for the 2015 season.

Strong Defense

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I don't think anyone would argue that the O's have one of the stronger defenses in all of baseball.

The team has above-average defenders at every position and plenty of guys who can play multiple positions, such as Steve Pearce, Ryan Flaherty and Chris Davis.

Center fielder Adam Jones boasts four Gold Glove awards, shortstop J.J. Hardy has three, catcher Matt Wieters has two (though he is coming off of Tommy John surgery, so it's fair to question if he'll be as good as he was prior to the procedure), and third baseman Manny Machado (pictured) has one as well as the Platinum Glove award, which he won in 2013.

On top of that, first baseman Chris Davis made the final three for the Gold Glove award in 2013, and second baseman Jonathan Schoop and Flaherty, a utility infielder, are each deserving of an award based on sheer ability. Flaherty is arguably one of the best infielders in all of MLB and is able to play all four infield positions.

It's just as important to prevent runs from scoring as it is to score runs. A strong defense wins championships.

The Return of the Pitching Staff

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Other than the loss of lefty reliever Andrew Miller, the Orioles' pitching staff remains entirely intact from last season. And that's a good thing when you consider that the staff as a whole had a 3.43 ERA in 2014, good for seventh in baseball.

All five starters in the O's rotation to the end season last year—Chris Tillman (pictured), Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Miguel Gonzalez and Kevin Gausman—had an ERA of 3.65 or lower, and each of them but Gausman had 10 or more wins (Gausman had seven wins in 20 starts).

Speaking of Gausman, his progression could be huge for the O's this season. The team lacks a "true ace" in its rotation, and Gausman has the potential to become just that in the majors. He already throws a hard fastball and a great changeup, so if he can nail down a breaking ball, he could take his game to the next level.

Gausman may not begin the season in the rotation, but as long as he pitches well, he'll be there before he knows it.

And when it comes to the bullpen, the team already had a good one before their trade-deadline acquisition of Miller last summer. If guys like Tommy Hunter, Darren O'Day and Zach Britton can just keep doing what they did last season, there should be very little to worry about when it comes to relief pitchers.

Offensive Potential

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The Orioles offense is an interesting machine.

There may be no other offense in the majors that can change so drastically from day to day. You never know if you're going to get an explosion or silence from the lumber that the O's possess.

The team has hit 211 or more home runs in each of the last three seasons, leading the league in homers in each of the last two and finishing second to the New York Yankees in 2012.

The problem is that they struggle with getting on base, so many of those homers are solo shots or two-run dingers. The O's were 17th in baseball in OBP last year, posting a .311 number.

The losses of Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis are going to hurt the team some offensively, but there's still plenty of ability in the lineup.

Manny Machado is returning after a full spring training, and he looked to be picking things up before his injury last season.

Steve Pearce is hoping to prove that his strong 2014 was no fluke, as is Alejandro De Aza after his trade to the Birds from the Chicago White Sox.

And, of course, there's Adam Jones, who will almost surely put up Adam Jones-type numbers.

The biggest question mark is Chris Davis (pictured), as O's management and fans alike are waiting to find out whether he will put up the numbers that he posted in 2013 (.286 BA, .370 OBP, 53 HR, 138 RBI), regress like last season (.196, .300, 26, 72) or maybe produce somewhere in the middle, such as his 2012 season (.270, .326, 33, 85).

If Davis can come around and be a force once again, the O's will have gotten a huge boost in their run-scoring potential. He may be the most important offensive question for the team this year.

Even still, though, expect to see plenty of long balls from the O's in 2015.

Deep Depth

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Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette is great at building "deep depth," and that's one thing that will surely help the O's throughout the course of the 162-game marathon of a regular season.

The team has a lot of quality players who can do a lot of things on both the major league roster and in the minors.

As stated before, utility infielder Ryan Flaherty has one of the best gloves in the game, and the February signing of shortstop Everth Cabrera (pictured) is looking brilliant right now due to starting shortstop J.J. Hardy beginning the season on the DL.

As most O's fans should know by now, the team entered spring training with six starting pitchers for five slots (throw Ubaldo Jimenez into the mix from the list of five starters on the pitching slide), and that's a great problem for any team to have, as it allows the team to go with their best five out of the gate and have another quality arm ready to go in a pinch.

The team has plenty of outfielders, and every single one of them can contribute in one way or another.

Adam Jones is an obvious impact player, and there's also Alejandro De Aza with his speed and ability to get on base when his bat is hot, Steve Pearce with his versatility and all-around strong bat, David Lough with his spectacular defense (though he'll begin the year on the DL) and Delmon Young, pinch-hitter extraordinaire.

Even the injury-prone Nolan Reimold has made a case for himself this spring (.317 BA, .431 OBP, 2 HR, 8 RBI in 22 G, 41 AB).

Outfield prospects Dariel Alvarez, Henry Urrutia and Mike Yastrzemski are in the minors looking to force their way to the bigs sometime this summer, and the team has some starting-pitching depth in the minors as well with guys like Dylan Bundy, Mike Wright, Tim Berry and Tyler Wilson, among others.

Depth is always tested throughout the course of the major league season. Luckily, the O's have quality depth, allowing them to absorb injuries or ineffectiveness and continue to be a competitive team.

An Intelligent Front Office

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One thing that is a surefire carryover from last season and the two seasons prior is the managing partnership of manager Buck Showalter (pictured, left) and Dan Duquette (pictured).

Smart management never slumps. Yes, it's true that a person in charge can make a mistake here and there, but it's also likely that if that person were good at his or her job in the past, they'll continue to be good at their job going forward.

While players—who deal with injuries and physical changes—can have their ups and downs from season to season or even during the season, management will continue to perform as it's expected to.

Showalter, the team's manager on the field, has lead the O's to three straight winning seasons after the franchise endured 14 consecutive losing campaigns, and the Orioles have made the playoffs in two of those last three seasons. Because of the team's strong performance in 2014, Showalter took home his third Manager of the Year award.

It's impossible to put a numerical value on his ability to keep his team focused and positive in the clubhouse as well as his ability to get the most out of his players on the field.

When it comes to Duquette, the shrewd executive has made all of the right moves over the last three years when it comes to adding depth to the team and building around a strong core of players. Duquette was honored with two Executive of the Year awards—one from Baseball America and another from Sporting News.

With men like these two in charge of the team, Birdland can be assured that everything will be done to keep the Orioles a competitive team in 2015 and beyond.