Can the Orioles actually beat the Twins in 2025?
Counting today’s game, there are 121 games remaining on the 2025 Orioles schedule. The prospect of spending a lot of time watching the team seemed exciting before the season began. Now, with about three-quarters of it remaining, the weight of so many games is more of a thing to dread. We have seen so much losing already. How much more will there be to come?
This series finale against the Twins presents the final chance for the Orioles to beat that team this year. The O’s season has descended to where it is now because of their inability to beat the Twins. The Twins! Three game sweep in Minnesota last week and then yesterday’s doubleheader. That’s helped the Twins to ten wins in a row. They’ve beaten teams other than the Orioles… but they’ve also done a lot of beating the Orioles.
As I wrote earlier this morning, as far as 2025 season hopes for the Orioles, I think that’s over. There’s not going to be any ascending from this. The team has dug itself into too much of a hole. It’s not so much about wanting them to win so that they can go places, as wanting them to show enough life so that next year doesn’t start to seem like it’s a hopeless cause as well.
That means players doing better than they have been, or for those who are already performing acceptably, at least continuing on that path. One part of that for me is in today’s leadoff man, Jackson Holliday. If he’s able to thrive in that spot, that’s one possible avenue for hope.
The biggest revival in terms of importance has got to be Adley Rutschman, today’s cleanup hitter. He’s back below the Mendoza line, so it’s not great to see him at #4, but it’s not like there’s any other great choices. Like, who else is going to go there? Tyler O’Neill? He’s another one who I’d like to see some life from – maybe a hot streak that gets him to opt out, or at least enough of a hot streak that him being here for two more years doesn’t seem bad.
Orioles lineup
- Jackson Holliday – 2B
- Ryan Mountcastle – 1B
- Gunnar Henderson – SS
- Adley Rutschman – C
- Ryan O’Hearn – DH
- Tyler O’Neill – RF
- Cedric Mullins – CF
- Emmanuel Rivera – 3B
- Heston Kjerstad – LF
Tomoyuki Sugano is pitching. If he follows the pattern he’s had over his first big league starts, that should be a good thing. He continues to have a big gap between his ERA and his Fielding Independent Pitching number, which is because he doesn’t strike many batters out. That’s a tricky act to continue for a whole season.
Twins lineup
- Byron Buxton – CF
- Trevor Larnach – DH
- Ryan Jeffers – C
- Brooks Lee – 2B
- Carlos Correa – SS
- Willi Castro – RF
- Royce Lewis – 3B
- Kody Clemens – 1B
- DaShawn Keirsey Jr. – LF
Pitching for the Twins is Chris Paddack. He has a 4.76 ERA. The Orioles should be able to get to him. Maybe they even will, and then it will be up to the pitchers to hold on. They proved incapable of that in yesterday’s doubleheader and will probably fail many times more before the season’s end.