The resurrection of the Baltimore Orioles, it could be said, began last September. Buck Showalter had said early on that he would be playing his regulars in games against contenders, while using the September call-ups in the games against also-rans.

By comparison, the Yankees, who had stitched up the division by the final series against the Wild Card contending Tampa Bay Rays, decided to send in the call-ups.

So, it was a study in contrasts. When Boston arrived for the series that would decide their season’s fate, they ran into a team with Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, and a mindset that essentially said “This is our World Series.” The Rays, meanwhile, were basically facing a Yankees team that was playing Spring Training baseball.

And so as we barrel through September with several races still close, the question becomes: will the potential spoilers this year be like the Orioles, or like the Yankees?

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In general, it will depend on a few factors: where the team is in the race (a team that has already qualified for a playoff spot is more likely to be sitting it’s stars in preparation for playoff baseball), what the manager of the would-be spoiler is like (Buck Showalter, for example, is infamously competitive and had long said he wanted to beat the big-market teams) and what is motivating the players.

Take the Red Sox, for example. They are out of it, Bobby Valentine is probably gone, David Ortiz is hurt, and the famous sell-out streak is now an illusion that is only being perpetrated because ticket-brokers had bought up so many tickets before the season (meaning the tickets have technically been all sold out). However, last night they showed some incredible fight, beating the Yankees late to once again lead to a tie at the top of the East. If one were to guess at what will happen with the Red Sox, it is probably safe to say that, although they might not be going 100% like the Orioles were against competitors last season, they will probably be playing hard. For one thing, trying to knock off the Yankees and going out a winner seems like such a Bobby Valentine thing to do. For another, the Red Sox will likely be going through some big changes this off-season, so the players will likely be trying to secure their spot in the big leagues and/or advertise themselves for possible suitors.

Others, however, might not have as much emphasis on doing so. Take Washington, for example. They hold a good lead over the Braves, and it probably won’t be long until they clinch the division. Considering what they did with Stephen Strasburg, it seems unlikely that they would be sending out the A-Team against teams near the end of the season, such as the Wild Card-leading Cardinals or the suddenly-in-the-WC-race Phillies.
Of course, no matter who the would-be spoilers are sending out, it still comes down to the team in the race to win the game. After all, probably the one thing that would be worse than being eliminated from playoff contention by a spoiler playing it’s starters would be to lose to a spoiler that is only going at it at half-speed.