At one point this season, the Baltimore Orioles were a leading player in the AL, dominating the Yankees and looking at a stronger run than 2023. Then the injuries set in, the bottom fell out, and the Orioles are in full 'it's just an honor to be nominated' mode.
Yes, I know there is a chance that, seeing as Mountcastle, Westburg and Urias are all back now, the Orioles could get something done this year, but the joy is gone. Rutschman hit a cold spell months ago and hasn't left. Bradish and Means getting hurt means that a ton of alternate options have been pressed into crucial roles, and when those alternate options are Dean Kremer and Albert Suarez, it's not gonna be full throttle. Literally the only Orioles starter who's done absolutely everything asked of him this year has been Corbin Burnes, and he's probably gonna want to pitch somewhere else in 2025.The Craig Kimbrel experiment was a failure that cost them several close games. And with the exception of powerful seasons from Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Santander and Burnes, everything just seems to have slowed to a crawl.
And you hate to see it. The Orioles are a great team that doesn't know how to be this amazing for 7 months. They sort of mastered it last year, then October didn't work out. Then this year they had a better team but more people got injured. And it's hard to really sell this O's team as a better version of last year's when the pitching isn't as good.
Cedric Mullins is one of the longest tenured people on this team, as he was around when Machado and friends left in 2018. Him having a fairly middle of the road season speaks less about him and more about the team now needing to rely less on him. It's very similar to Adam Jones when Machado came up, like the pressure wasn't on as much so he didn't NEED to be the MVP candidate, so he just did his thing. And Mullins has been fine this year, he's at least gotten 30 steals again and might squeak out 20 homers, but he's clearly had better seasons for this team. I think the team still values him, and seeing as 2025 might be his last year in Baltimore, he hopefully rewards them with a fuller, more-realized campaign.
The O's are stuck playing the Yankees this week. They match up well against the Yankees, but the Yankees do have the momentum right now, and are ultimately the better team. Having already been outlasted by the Tigers, potentially a wild card competitor of theirs, they just need to stay competent and stay dignified after the Yankees are finished with them, because whoever they get handed a playoff matchup with needs to underprepare. It's very likely it could be the Tigers again, or even the Royals, and both of those teams could be interesting. With the Royals it'd be a tougher, better matched series as both teams have lost a ton of momentum recently. But with the Tigers, they'd genuinely be fighting to keep from being lapped.
I really wish the Orioles had a sunnier path lined out for them this October, but they're gonna need to be the underdog for most of it. Hopefully that's something that doesn't worry them.
Coming Tonight- Months ago, there was a belief that there wouldn't be an Acuña in the playoffs this year. And now I think there's been some backtracking, just not in the way people might think.
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