For Baltimore Orioles fans, this opening series has still left us with a lot of questions, as the Birds ended up splitting the series with their AL East rival Toronto Blue Jays.
For months, it was nonstop discourse over whether or not the Orioles did enough to not just win but to be successful in the postseason.
Was there more to Adley Rutschman‘s play in the second half of 2024? Was replacing Anthony Santander with Tyler O’Neill a good move? How will the starting pitching be able to keep up with the competition in the AL East? How will Félix Bautista bounce back after Tommy John Surgery?
Some of these questions have been answered, but many remain.
On Opening Day, we saw an offensive explosion when the Orioles hit six home runs, which is now the club’s Opening Day home run record. Only four teams in history have hit six or more homers on Opening Day.
Rutschman and Cedric Mullins both sent two balls into the outfield seats. O’Neill hit his first as an Oriole and his sixth straight home run on Opening Day, which is also a major league record. Jordan Westburg also joined in on the fun with a 406-foot homer of his own.
Baltimore hit around José Berríos, which historically hasn’t happened. Before that outing, Berríos had a 10-0 record in 13 starts with a 2.66 ERA against the O’s.
Zach Eflin was in cruse control for the most part, pitching six innings and giving up two runs on two hits. He was able to get outs easy and often.
You should expect to see a lot of this out of Eflin this year. He is more than capable of being the spearhead of the O’s rotation.
The bullpen was able to shut the door and close out Opening Day with a 12-2 win.
Game two of the series was a bit of a letdown. The bats didn’t show up, and neither did the pitching. Throw in some sloppy defense, and you hit the trifecta of how to lose a baseball game.
Charlie Morton’s debut with the Birds wasn’t a good one, as he gave up seven hits and four earned runs in only 3.1 innings. Between Morton and Albert Suárez, we saw numerous wild pitches that allowed Toronto to own the base paths.
The lone bright spot on Friday was Jackson Holiday, who hit a solo shot off former Oriole Kevin Gausman. He then followed it up later in the game with a single, but ultimately, the O’s fell to the Jays, 8-2.
Game three of the series was probably what we expected of this Orioles ball club. A 9-5 victory where the bats were alive and the pitching did just enough to get by.
The offense once again exploded with nine runs on 12 hits, with three of those runs coming via the long ball, all led by Westburg and Ramón Urías. For this team to consistently out-hit average pitching, the Orioles will have to rely on all nine guys in the lineup to show up consistently.
Dean Kremer gave us what we would expect from him. Not a lights out appearance, but he was able to put together a solid five innings of work.
However, this bullpen might be as advertised. Manager Brandon Hyde called upon five different arms, which included the 2025 debuts of Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista. The duo was back and completely shut the door on any momentum the Jays had.
Game four of the series was another letdown. The bats were alive but not at the right times. The Orioles seemed to struggle to find that big hit that would propel them to a series win.
Tomoyuki Sugano struggled at first, but once things settled down, he dialed it in. Unfortunately, Sugano left early with cramping in his hand. He should be fine and ready to start when he’s called upon to do so.
Ryan O’Hearn had a decent day, where he went 2-for-2 and drew a walk. O’Hearn also scored the only run of the contest for the Birds on a wild pitch.
Toronto was able to split the series with a 3-1 win.
Overall, it is a very cloudy start to 2025. Opening Day is a day built around optimism and hope. This Orioles club has a chance to be special if they can put it all together.
They have a chance to get some more of these questions answered, starting with the home opener against Boston on Monday.
What are your thoughts on the first series of the season? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, X, Bluesky and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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