Enduring the 2025 Orioles

It's been a long year in Baltimore

Each year, I blog about the Baltimore Orioles. The tone last year and the one prior were positive, full of hope based on solid play, a good (young!) core, a promising farm system, and good records. This year has been another story.

The Orioles have struggled on both sides this year. 

- Their pitching, predicted to be poor, has been. They were unable to re-sign Corbin Burnes (who got injured with his new team, anyway). They have three key players injured (Grayson Rodriguez, Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish). The replacements (Charlie Morton, Kyle Gibson, and others) have been a disaster. There is some promise with Tomoyuki Sugano, and Zack Eflin is sometimes okay, but things have been rough all around.

- Their batting, predicted to be good, has not been. Their core remains, but most players have slid from their previous performances. Jackson Holliday has been a nice highlight, Cedric Mullins remains solid, and Gunnar is doing decently well, but it's been disappointing in general.

Looking at their depth chart (current as of today), I still really like their fielders. If only they could start hitting more, and improve the pitching.

One highlight this year has been the return of all-orange uniforms (a nod back to the 1971-72 seasons). Those have been a (literal) bright spot.

Years like this make one wonder 'what went wrong?' Their offseason free agency losses (Anthony Santander and Corbin) have not produced for their respective new teams, so no regrets there. Injuries are never predictable and always lamentable. I think the real problems must be in:

- free agent pitching (or lack thereof)

- some bad trades last year (giving up some good prospects for people that haven't panned out)

- coaching? (hard to know why everyone would take a step back)

There's blame to go around, but in general . . . they're still the O's. And you stick with your team through the ups and downs. They may turn things around still—they have been 15-8 in their last 23. Go Birds!