The ebb and flow of the season seems to be contagious among the teams in the AL East. When the Orioles were playing well in June it seemed every other team in the division was also playing well. Eventually they worked their way toward the top of the division, but despite their solid record in the month, they were unable to break away from the pack.
Now, over the past week or so, the Orioles have struggled a bit. Fortunately for them, the rest of the division has followed suit and struggled within the same timeframe. The result has been a cluster of teams shuffling around first place for the past few weeks.