Baltimore Orioles' Nightmare Season Will Seemingly Never End

It is hard for things to get much worse than they have been for the Baltimore Orioles in 2025. Despite very few meaningful additions to the roster over the offseason, hopes for the campaign were still high after the team made it to the postseason in each of the last two years, and even won the American League East in 2023.

Now, the Orioles are days removed from firing long-time manager Brandon Hyde, they DFA'd one struggling veteran starter in Kyle Gibson, have moved Charlie Morton into and out of the rotation numerous times this year, and placed one of their biggest power bats, Tyler O'Neill, on the injured list for the second time this season.

While all of that may seem bad enough, one of the lone bright spots of the starting rotation this year, Zach Eflin, saw his ERA shoot up above 5.00 after a rough outing on Sunday against the Washington Nationals.

Nightmare Season for Orioles Continues with Zach Eflin's Recent Struggles

Eflin, 31, is a 10-year veteran of MLB. He has played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays, and has been in Baltimore since the 2024 MLB trade deadline.

The right-hander has never been an ace-caliber pitcher, but he has always been a solid option for the middle of a rotation, sometimes even performing as a strong No. 2. The Orioles needed him to be an ace this year.

Through his first three starts, Eflin was filling that role nicely. He carried a 3.00 ERA across 18 innings, and the team was 2-1 in his outings. However, on April 9, two days after his third start, Baltimore placed Eflin on the 10-day injured list with a right lat strain.

The veteran returned just over a month later, making his fourth start of the year on May 11. Now, two starts in from his return from injury (coming seven days apart, no less), the wheels have fallen off for Eflin, too.

Through those two starts, Eflin allowed 10 runs, all earned, across 10 1/3 innings. It gives him an ERA of 8.71 in that stretch, putting his mark on the year at 5.08.

Eflin now joins an ever-increasing list of Orioles' starters who have ERAs above 5.00 for the year. Only Tomoyuki Sugano and Keegan Akin carry ERAs below 5.00 among pitchers who have started for the team, though Akin's comes in only 1 2/3 innings.

While Eflin was looked at as a veteran starting pitcher that Baltimore could count on this year, that may no longer be the case. The hits keep coming for the Orioles, and most of them have come from the opposing teams.