Here's your Baltimore homer scouting report.
O's greatest strength right now is the back of their bullpen. Ever since they picked up Miller from Boston at the trading deadline, they've essentially been playing 6-inning games. If they're up after 6, they turn it over to Miller/O'Day/Britton, and it's almost always lights out. Also Tommy Hunter sometimes, and Brian Matusz if there's a lefty match-up Buck wants to attack prior to getting to Miller. 3 LHs in the back of the pen gives him a lot of options.
The other strength is their HR power. They don't get on base a lot but they go deep a lot - have hit more than 200 HRs for 3 straight years.
Biggest weakness is that when the HRs don't come, they can really struggle to score. They do not manufacture runs at all. The other big weakness right now is 3B defense. If they had Machado, I think they would be a legit World Series threat, but without him, I don't think so. Their starting pitchers don't strike out a lot of guys, so they rely on a strong defense. Third base defense is terrible right now and you know how the post-season always finds your weakness and exposes it. Also, their starters have been very good this season, but they're really not overwhelming in any way. I think the Tigers have just the kind of lineup that can wait for the pitch they want and then punish it. In particular, Chen struggles sometimes vs. solid right-handed hitting and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Tigers hit him hard.
I guess the O's other strength is Buck Showalter and their intangibles. Buck has truly had a great season, to the point that I began talking in the Orioles thread about whether or not it's possible for a manager to get "hot." In particular, for a while after the All-Star Break, it seemed that every single move he made turned to gold. The Orioles really expect to win and I don't think the moment will be too big for them. Every guy on the team knows and accepts his job and will be ready when they get called - wouldn't surprise me at all to see a guy like Delmon Young come through with a pivotal pinch hit at some point.
Jones and Cruz have hit Scherzer hard in the past, but he didn't face the Orioles this year and the bottom 5 guys in the lineup have either never faced him or have gone 0-for in limited appearances, except JJ Hardy who has really struggled. I'm pretty sure Camden Yards will be as mental an environment for a baseball game as you've seen - way more like an NFL crowd than baseball. Going to be pretty cool when Markakis leads off the home half of the first for his first postseason at-bat after almost 1400 regular season games (he was out for the playoffs in 2012 thanks to a wrist broken by a Sabathia fastball in mid-September, which I'm still bitter about). He's been through a lot of bad years and it's cool to see him got this shot.
I think it will go 5 games, though not every one of the games will necessarily be a tight affair. If the O's don't homer, they could get beat pretty badly, and if the O's get into the Tigers bullpen, they could end up putting up some big numbers. Can't wait until Thursday!