Orioles Pitching Unsurprisingly Ranks Near Dead Last After Atrocious Start

Nothing has gone according to plan for the Baltimore Orioles through the first quarter of the 2025 season. The offense has failed to put things together consistently, and the starting rotation, save for Tomoyuki Sugano and Zach Eflin, has been abhorrent.

It has not been just the rotation that has struggled, however, as the bullpen has not performed well, either. The pitching staff's struggles are made even worse when you look at last year's performance and how the unit, as a whole, finished in the top half of MLB with their 3.94 ERA.

It has not been as easy this year. Through the first 42 games of the season, the Orioles' pitching staff holds a 5.34 ERA, better than only the Washington Nationals, the Miami Marlins and the Colorado Rockies. The staff has been so bad, that a recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report ranked the unit 28th in MLB.

Baltimore Orioles Pitching Staff Ranks 28th in MLB

"Tomoyuki Sugano has been excellent," writes Miller, "Zach Eflin returned on Sunday after five weeks on the IL, and the back of this bullpen is pretty darn good—if and when it gets a lead to protect. But Charlie Morton and Kyle Gibson have been a mutual travesty at 0-9 with an ERA of roughly 10, and neither Dean Kremer nor Cade Povich is providing any value in the rotation. It is very clear the O's no longer have Corbin Burnes and have yet to get Grayson Rodriguez on the mound this season."

Of all the struggles in the staff this year, Charlie Morton's comes as the most surprising. He has not been a top-tier arm for a few years now, but as recently as 2023, his age-39 campaign, Morton posted a 3.64 ERA across 163 1/3 innings for the Atlanta Braves. This year has seen a much worse performance from the veteran.

Through his first 11 games this year, six being starts, Morton has pitched to an 8.35 ERA across 36 2/3 innings. The 41-year-old has been moved into and out of the rotation on more than one occasion and has failed to find success as a starter or reliever.

Morton's struggles have helped contribute to a 5.66 ERA from the starting rotation as a whole, nearly two runs worse than the 3.77 mark the rotation posted in 2024.

Nothing has been easy for the Orioles this year, specifically pitching. Time is ticking, and the opportunities to get back on track and into contention are dwindling by the day.