On March 27, the Baltimore Orioles started out the 2025 MLB season with a fantastic 12-2 victory behind explosive bats and lights out pitching.
Since that game, we really haven’t seen anything close to that type of performance. The O’s are now 5-8 and have yet to win a series on the young season.
With the team off to a slow start to the year, we have constructed three different reasons as to why this is the unfortunate case of the Birds.
Inconsistency
The big thing with this team is inconsistency.
It’s understandable that stats are going to be lower for losses than they are for wins. However, with the Orioles not having any type of winning streak thus far, it shows straight inconsistency.
When the Orioles win, they have the third best team OPS at .974, yet when they lose, they have the 24th best OPS at .464. It’s also the same scenario with the pitching staff, as the team ERA is just about doubled (2.80 in wins, 5.73 in losses).
Managerial Decisions
The biggest head-scratcher is some of the decisions made from manager Brandon Hyde.
The 2023 AL Manager of the Year has made some very questionable decisions this season that are very hard to get behind.
The first is the way the outfield is constructed. It’s understandable that infielders moving to the outfield is a trend in 2025, i.e. Jose Altuve with Houston, O’Neil Cruz with the Pirates, etc. But that doesn’t mean it’s going to work.
Defensive mistakes happen, but Jorge Mateo is in center field when you have Dylan Carlson down in Triple-A Norfolk, who has been nothing but a defensive-first outfielder who also switch-hits.
Also, in 2025, home runs are as prominent as ever, but it doesn’t hurt to play small ball sometimes and lay a bunt down.
The same goes for when runners are on base. Not every time that there is a runner on third, he has to go on contact. It’s almost a guaranteed out and wasted opportunity. It ruins momentum and is just bad baseball.
Injuries
The final issue is that the injury bug has hit the Orioles once again, and it’s really hurting them right now.
It started with Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells still recovering from Tommy John Surgery, which we were prepared for. Then we heard about injuries to Trevor Rogers and Chayce McDermott that were lingering.
Then, we heard the worst of it in the middle of spring training, when newly-acquired reliever Andrew Kittredge went down with a knee injury, and Grayson Rodriguez went down with a triceps issue.
To top it all off, Colton Cowser broke his thumb not even a week into the season, and Zach Eflin just went down and got sidelined with a shoulder injury.
Losing multiple pitchers and a former Rookie of the Year candidate to injuries is gutwrenching, to say the least.
In the end, setbacks are going to happen every season, and it’s all about the bounceback from those setbacks. However, these kinds of setbacks are ones that are going to ruin the entire season unless changes are made.
What are your thoughts on the O’s start to 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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