With the homestretch of the 2024 season truly upon us, things will get very interesting over the next 15 games for the Baltimore Orioles.
The O’s currently hold a 4.5-game lead for the top AL Wild Card spot. However, the Tigers are on the outside looking in and are only 3.5 out of the final spot. That being said, this will be a huge three-game series for both teams.
Offensively, things have still been a bit rough for the Birds outside of a few bats. One of those bats being Cedric Mullins, who seems to still be hitting at a near 2021 level, as well as Adley Rutschman, who got himself back on track in Boston, which included his game winning two-RBI single in game two of that series.
On the mound will be the big dogs for the Orioles. Game one will feature Zach Eflin (10-3, 3.65 ERA) vs. a “TBD” starter. Game two will see Corbin Burnes (13-8, 3.18 ERA) vs. another TBD starter. Finally, game three will be Cade Povich (2-8, 5.91 ERA) vs. Keider Montero (5-6, 4.88 ERA), who threw a complete game shutout against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday.
BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR
Usually, we would see Eflin and Burnes stop the rotation and immediately notch two victories. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case recently, which is our BATTERY ❌️-FACTOR this series.
How Eflin and Burnes pitch in this set will either be what wins the series or what loses it. Burnes had a good bounce-back in his last start following an abysmal August. Alternatively, Eflin is coming off his worst start as an Oriole in his previous outing.
These two arms are known to be dominant from pitch one, and they will need to be when the offense will have a tough time with their M.O. of long ball or bust in this stadium.
The starts of these two will also play a role into Povich and his start in game three, by ideally not leaving all the pressure of needing a great start on the rookie’s shoulders to secure a victory in game three if it comes to that.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUP
Game one of this series begins on Friday evening at 6:40 p.m. EST on MASN2. Games two and three will be televised at 6:10 p.m. and 12:10 p.m. EST, respectively, on MASN2 as well. Each game will also be broadcast on your local Orioles Radio Network station.
How do you see this series playing out? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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