The road trip continues.
The Blue Jays continue their quest to get above .500 on the road with four games in Baltimore. After the Monday opener, the two teams play a double-header on Tuesday and an afternoon game on Wednesday. The app on my phone says the temperature will be 34 and 35 degrees all three days.
Alejandro Kirk is out of the lineup for the Blue Jays, while Adley Rutchsmann is expected to return to action for the Orioles after a brief rehab stint for an oblique strain. Noted Blue Jays killer Ryan Mountcastle is currently on a rehab stint of his own, but he's not eligible to return from the 60 Day IL until Wednesday. Closer Felix Bautista is out with shoulder discomfort - the Orioles, of course, have already traded away relievers Bryan Baker and Gregory Soto and are supposedly listening to offers on Seranthony Dominguez. Hey, Zack Britton is rested and ready, still waiting for the phone to ring.
What went wrong with the 2025 Orioles? After winning 91 games in 2024 (and 101 the year before that), how are they on the wrong side of .500, stuck in the AL East basement? The quick and easy answer is it's all because they went cheap this past off-season, shopping in the bargain bins for starting pitchers. And when you shop in the cheap aisle, you sometimes learn the hard way why certain items come cheap. And it's true that the Orioles just give up too many runs - only the Homeless Athletics have allowed more. But this was never really the team's strength anyway, and they have in fact lost almost as much on the offensive side of the ball. Their Runs Allowed has scored from a quite average 4.31 per game to this season's ugly 5.05 per game; their Runs Scored has fallen from a very good 4.85 per game (second best in the league) to a somewhat below average level of 4.23 per game. It's been a team effort.
Anthony Santander was the second best hitter in the Oriole lineup a year ago, and he's not helping anyone very much in 2025. But losing him hasn't really been the problem. Ramon Laureano has done a very fine job replacing Santander at the plate and in right field. But Mountcastle, formerly a league average hitter against the average league team (and Babe Bloody Ruth himself against the Blue Jays) has been almost unplayable. Gunnar Henderson has been very good, but a year ago he was the kind of guy who gets plenty of MVP votes. And while no one says that the injury is the reason, it's nonetheless pretty clear that Adley Rutschmann simply hasn't been the same hitter since 27 June 2024. That's when he took a foul ball off his right hand. He missed one game. He then hit .189/.279/.280 with just 4 HRs over the Orioles final 81 games, and he hasn't been a whole lot better this season. The power is gone. The one thing he still does well is take a walk.
So it's not all on the pitching.
Matchups!
Mon 28 July - Bassitt (11-4, 3.88) vs Eflin (6-5, 5.78)
Tue 29 July - Lauer (6-2, 2.61) vs Morton (6-8, 5.48)
Tue 29 July - S. Guy (?-?, ?.??) vs A. Guy (?-?, ?.??)
Wed 30 July - Berrios (7-4, 3.83) vs Kremer (8-7, 4.23)
The Blue Jays continue their quest to get above .500 on the road with four games in Baltimore. After the Monday opener, the two teams play a double-header on Tuesday and an afternoon game on Wednesday. The app on my phone says the temperature will be 34 and 35 degrees all three days.
Alejandro Kirk is out of the lineup for the Blue Jays, while Adley Rutchsmann is expected to return to action for the Orioles after a brief rehab stint for an oblique strain. Noted Blue Jays killer Ryan Mountcastle is currently on a rehab stint of his own, but he's not eligible to return from the 60 Day IL until Wednesday. Closer Felix Bautista is out with shoulder discomfort - the Orioles, of course, have already traded away relievers Bryan Baker and Gregory Soto and are supposedly listening to offers on Seranthony Dominguez. Hey, Zack Britton is rested and ready, still waiting for the phone to ring.
What went wrong with the 2025 Orioles? After winning 91 games in 2024 (and 101 the year before that), how are they on the wrong side of .500, stuck in the AL East basement? The quick and easy answer is it's all because they went cheap this past off-season, shopping in the bargain bins for starting pitchers. And when you shop in the cheap aisle, you sometimes learn the hard way why certain items come cheap. And it's true that the Orioles just give up too many runs - only the Homeless Athletics have allowed more. But this was never really the team's strength anyway, and they have in fact lost almost as much on the offensive side of the ball. Their Runs Allowed has scored from a quite average 4.31 per game to this season's ugly 5.05 per game; their Runs Scored has fallen from a very good 4.85 per game (second best in the league) to a somewhat below average level of 4.23 per game. It's been a team effort.
Anthony Santander was the second best hitter in the Oriole lineup a year ago, and he's not helping anyone very much in 2025. But losing him hasn't really been the problem. Ramon Laureano has done a very fine job replacing Santander at the plate and in right field. But Mountcastle, formerly a league average hitter against the average league team (and Babe Bloody Ruth himself against the Blue Jays) has been almost unplayable. Gunnar Henderson has been very good, but a year ago he was the kind of guy who gets plenty of MVP votes. And while no one says that the injury is the reason, it's nonetheless pretty clear that Adley Rutschmann simply hasn't been the same hitter since 27 June 2024. That's when he took a foul ball off his right hand. He missed one game. He then hit .189/.279/.280 with just 4 HRs over the Orioles final 81 games, and he hasn't been a whole lot better this season. The power is gone. The one thing he still does well is take a walk.
So it's not all on the pitching.
Matchups!
Mon 28 July - Bassitt (11-4, 3.88) vs Eflin (6-5, 5.78)
Tue 29 July - Lauer (6-2, 2.61) vs Morton (6-8, 5.48)
Tue 29 July - S. Guy (?-?, ?.??) vs A. Guy (?-?, ?.??)
Wed 30 July - Berrios (7-4, 3.83) vs Kremer (8-7, 4.23)
