Can these increasingly irritating dudes manage to avoid getting themselves swept by a below-.500 team?
Another day, another opportunity for the Orioles to continue to disappoint all of the people who have put hopes in them doing something fun, good, or interesting this season. The disappointment has been nearly daily for two weeks now. The Orioles have lost nine of their last 12 games, scoring all of 24 runs in the process. Two runs per game for two weeks! Yeah, really.
At this point, the Orioles don’t even have to be good to make it into the postseason. They just have to be something other than the collective terrible thing that they have been this month. They could settle for the .500 team that they were for roughly two months before finally sinking deeper into this current rut. Going 5-5 over their final ten games would almost certainly mean that the O’s would be the home wild card team.
The idea of finishing even .500 the rest of the way seems like some kind of crazy fever dream scenario. The Orioles of right now cannot do it. This fact sucks to think about. It sucks for anyone who’s spent time and money to watch the September 2024 Orioles. Those of us who temporarily loaned the Orioles money at no interest in anticipation of one to three rounds of postseason games in Baltimore this year are not likely feeling much excitement about that fact.
Things are not getting easier today. As this series wraps up against the Giants, the Orioles hitters will be facing off against Logan Webb, one of the better pitchers in the league for three seasons running. Webb has combined pretty good results with a remarkable run of durability. If he pitches 6.1 innings today, he’ll reach the 200 innings threshold for a second year in a row. That’s not that tough of a task against this crew right now.
Orioles lineup
- Gunnar Henderson – SS
- Cedric Mullins – CF
- Anthony Santander – DH
- Colton Cowser – LF
- Adley Rutschman – C
- Ryan O’Hearn – 1B
- Heston Kjerstad – RF
- Jackson Holliday – 2B
- Emmanuel Rivera – 3B
Any hope for an Orioles fan today has to rest on the fact that today’s starting pitcher is Zach Eflin. He’s been nothing short of excellent since the team acquired him in July. His surge since joining the O’s makes next year’s starting rotation picture feel so much less grim. Perhaps Eflin, unlike Dean Kremer yesterday, would do well enough to make three runs scored by the offense stand up.
Giants lineup
- Mike Yastrzemski – RF
- LaMonte Wade Jr. – 1B
- Jerar Encarnacion – DH
- Michael Conforto – LF
- Tyler Fitzgerald – SS
- Patrick Bailey – C
- Grant McCray – CF
- Casey Schmitt – 3B
- Donovan Walton – 2B
It’s not a lineup that should sweep the Orioles! Except any lineup should sweep the Orioles with the way that they’re hitting lately.