Manny Machado high fives Chris DavisRemember when those sabermetric and advanced stat followers said during the 2012 MLB campaign how the Baltimore Orioles were simply a fluke?

They said that the O’s couldn’t continue to win games at a high enough rate to even contend for a playoff spot.

They claimed that there was no way Baltimore could keep up with such a high winning percentage in extra inning and one run games.

They proclaimed that Adam Jones and others simply had high BABIPs (batting average of balls in play) and could never sustain positive offensive numbers with such low walk rates.

Here’s a stat for you guys, then: Chris Davis and Manny Machado are atop the American League leaderboard in WAR (wins above replacement) at 3.3 and 3.1 respectively.  The only player higher than either of them is Carlos Gomez of the Milwaukee Brewers at 3.4.

Also in the top 30 in the AL in the WAR category are Nate McLouth and Adam Jones.  McLouth and Jones are both tied for 23rd at 1.2.  Matt Wieters isn’t far behind at 1.1 as well as J.J. Hardy at 1.0.