What could be more exciting than starting the season with a 4 game split!? The Orioles had an up and down first four games of the season with the offense oscillating between explosive and non-existent on a game to game basis and the pitching staff holding on for dear life.
Here are the main takeaways from the first season of the series:
The Good
Adley Rutschman Is Back
I would have argued with my chest out with anyone that Adley was still an elite catcher even after the end of last season but when he hit that first homer I did feel an immense sense of relief that he wasn’t washed at 27.
This time last year Adley was a dark horse MVP candidate who had been on an upward trajectory since his debut and him and Gunnar were considered an interchangeable top 2 at the top of this lineup. After the second half of 2024 I didn’t see anyone writing him off but it did feel that his standing in the league had changed.
And rightly so because I watched all those games last year and he looked even worse than the numbers suggested so besides the fact that his OPS of 1.139 after 4 games is very impressive it was good to see him look really athletic, barrel up multiple balls, and maybe most importantly hit the ball the other way.
If Adley can resume the trajectory he was on before his “injury” and be a high average high on base hitter with good defense at catcher that raises the Orioles ceiling significantly.
Jackson Holliday Played Everyday
Similar to Adley, Jackson had to answer a lot of questions about how much he struggled last year and after listening to at least 4 different interviews where he talked about how he had worked to improve I thought to myself “I hope all that works because it would be embarrassing for him to have publicly shared all this hard work and then go 1-30 to start the year again.”
Much to my relief and I’m sure his relief as well Jackson has gotten off to a strong start going 4-15 with a homer and walk. By comparison last year it took him 45 at bats to get to 4 hits.
He didn’t light the world on fire but he did look comfortable at the plate, he caught up to a fastball at the top of the zone for a hit and he took an established pitcher deep, all of which will be building blocks to a successful sophomore season.
Perhaps the most important thing was that Hyde put him in the lineup everyday and didn’t pinch hit for him the second a lefty entered the game. Hopefully this trend continues and we see Jackson play 150+ games.
The Bullpen Looked Strong
The Bullpen allowed a total of 4 ER over 15.1 innings which was super solid. In the 2 Orioles wins the bullpen got the ball with the lead and protected it and in the Orioles 2 losses the bullpen got the ball with Orioles already trailing and even though they gave up some runs in those games the offense never scored more than what the starter gave up so the bullpen is cleared of all wrongdoing.
Specifically Cano and Bautista looked great, Soto had one dominant inning and one where he struggled, Dominguez pitched out of a jam he inherited and low leverage guys like Bryan Baker and Matt Bowman both looked really good.
I had my doubts about this bullpen but the early returns suggest this is going to be a solid group.
Zach Eflin Looked Like An Ace, Sort Of
With the way the Orioles rotation is set up they really need Zach Eflin to be the version of himself that got Cy Young votes in 2023 and in his first start of the year that is exactly what he looked like.
6 innings 2 ER with only 2 strikeouts isn’t going to blow anyone away but 4 of his first 5 innings were 3 up 3 down and he was super efficient in those 6 innings, if the O’s had needed him to he easily could have pitched into the 7th.
It’s a tough ask for Zach Eflin’s starts to be “win day” but he’s off to a good start.
The Less Good (it’s early to say anything is bad, right?)
The Old Man Starters Looked Like Old Men
Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano both struggled in their first starts of the year. They both struggled with command and mostly had to pitch from behind in the count. They both put a lot of guys on base and were honestly lucky that the final numbers weren’t worse with some fortunate hard hit balls finding Orioles gloves. They combined for 7.1 innings and 6 ER.
To Sugano’s credit he looked like he was settling in after he had a rough first inning before leaving the game with hand cramps.
I don’t think that every turn through the rotation will look like this but it is a good reminder that with both of these guys there is no guarantee of success or good health at their ages.
Even though the two old guys struggled in their starts it really wasn’t their fault the Orioles lost those games. The offense gave them 3 total runs of run support in those two games that the Orioles lost and you just aren’t going to win many games averaging 1.5 runs per game. So even though they struggled they haven’t cost us a game yet so no harm no foul.
Heston Rides The Bench
Heston Kjerstad could barely crack the roster even though the Blue Jays started a righted pitcher in every single game. I was worried that the Kjerstad deserves regular at bat quotes were just lip service and early in the season it looks like that is the case.
I just don’t think starting once a week and occasionally pinch hitting with 2 outs in the ninth against the best closers in the league is a good recipe for developing a hitter.
This problem might solve itself as it was just announced Colton Cowser is going to miss 6-8 weeks with a thumb injury.
Colton Cowser Hurt His Thumb Ruled Out For 6-8 Weeks
This sucks.
The first series of the year can be misleading, in 2023 the Orioles lost their first series to the Red Sox and then turned in the best Orioles season since the turn of century. This was a fun a first series for the Orioles with lots of highlights, I didn’t even mention Jordan Westburg’s three homers and Ryan Mountcastle’s 99th percentile exit velos to the pull side. If the offense can be more consistent and spread those runs out a little more they’ll win a lot of games this year.
The Dishwasher 
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