There’s a new over/under after 11 games are in the books. Can the Orioles end up with the over?
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The Orioles are 5-6 through their first 11 games of the season. That’s just 6.8% of the games on the schedule. There’s a lot of baseball left to go and a lot of time for the O’s to change the trajectory that they’ve managed over the first couple of weeks.
Do you think that they can do it? The pessimistic case for the 2025 Orioles has gotten a lot of support over these first handfuls of games. The starting rotation is looking like it could end up being a real mess, and that’s before even considering a possible Zach Eflin absence that’s in the air as of this writing.
The Opening Day starter, who pitched very well for the Orioles after being acquired at the trade deadline last year, was pulled from last night’s start despite a modest pitch count because of shoulder fatigue. If Eflin has to hit the injured list, there’s a high chance that we won’t enjoy who is coming along to replace him for however long he’s out.
In the team’s early games, it’s had a disappointing lack of power hitting against left-handed pitchers and some distressing lack of hitting when the righty reserves are put in there against lefties. It’s not great.
One can also easily argue that we have not yet seen the best of these Orioles. There was no Gunnar Henderson for the first week, and his first series back was rocky. Once he settles in, the nightly offensive potential is much higher. Even the struggling starting pitchers should be better than this, and the ones who aren’t should be shuffled farther towards the periphery once May rolls around and theoretically Kyle Gibson will be added in the early part of the month and Grayson Rodriguez arrives later on.
Where does it leave you feeling about the team? We’ve got a new over/under after the first 11 games in the survey below: 85.5. To hit the over, the Orioles must go 81-70 from this point on. Is that asking too much? It would have them in the wild card picture but could still end up with the disappointment of not making the playoffs, depending on how the rest of the league plays. Under is 80-71 from here on, or worse. That feels entirely possible too.