Six home runs in the first game, one home run in the second. What comes next?
The Orioles kicked off the 2025 season in about the most exciting way possible by raining down a team Opening Day record six home runs on the Blue Jays. They followed this up with one of the more deflating losses they could have possibly had, with several crucial pitchers doing poorly, though at least they managed to add one more home run.
What awaits for game 3 of the season? The Orioles will be squaring off against likely future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who unquestionably has one of the great careers of his era. It’s also unquestionably near the end for Scherzer, who will turn 41 years old in July. He’s still been a solid pitcher even through his late-30s, with more of a question about his durability after starting only nine games a year ago.
Scherzer has become more of a homer-prone pitcher in this late era of the career. The 2023 season, split between the Mets and the Rangers, saw him allow 28 home runs in 152.2 innings. Last year for Texas, he allowed another seven dingers in 43.1 innings. With that being the recent pattern, there’s encouraging signs for the Orioles home run floodgates to open up again.
Ryan Mountcastle, the notorious destroyer of Blue Jays dreams, has yet to hit a home run against his favorite opponent. Lefty lineup regulars Colton Cowser and Ryan O’Hearn also still have a 0 in the home run column. Cowser’s still hitless for the season overall. None of these zeroes are going to last forever.
It would be just as nice to have someone who’s already homered this year add some more to their tally. Adley Rutschman’s going to need more than just a hot Opening Day to beat away the struggle narrative from the second half of last year. Very young Jackson Holliday teeing off against very old Scherzer would be a fun story, for us at least. Orioles fans are well acquainted with the idea that things are not guaranteed to happen just because we’d think that it’s fun.
Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer has also been known to give up his share of home runs. He allowed 18 of them in 24 starts last year, which is both a lot but also a slightly smaller HR/9 ratio than he had the year before. Former Oriole Anthony Santander has also yet to homer this year. I really thought (because I’m a pessimist by nature) that we’d get a Tony Taters Revenge Tour right out of the gate in this series. Maybe we still will, but it hasn’t started yet.
Opening Weekend Homerun Jackpot
What is it?
- For the first weekend of the season (March 27-30), all customers get a Profit Boost to use on ‘To Hit a Homerun’ markets. If their player hits a HR, they win their bet plus a share of the $500k jackpot
How it works
- Download or Log In to FanDuel Sportsbook with new or existing account
- Claim your “Profit Boost” token
- Place a Pre-Live, Straight, ‘To Hit a Home Run’ wager on any MLB Game during that four-day stretch
- Customers who used their token on a player who hit a home run win a share of $500k in bonus bets