The Inconsistency Curse: Orioles’ Offense Falters Again, Leaving Fans Demanding Answers
Gunnar Henderson was activated off the injured list ahead of the Baltimore Orioles‘ three-game set against the Kansas City Royals, and with the AL MVP candidate back in the mix, the hope was their offense would return to the high-powered unit they’ve been the past two years.
But that wasn’t necessarily the case.
While the Orioles lit up the scoreboard in their 8-1 victory on Saturday, they also only managed to plate three runs during their two losses.
That’s become a theme for this Baltimore team.
When things are clicking and the lineup is hitting, it’s hard to argue that there’s a more potent lineup in the sports since they have players throughout the batting order who can all hit for power, get on base and drive in runners.
But when things are cold, they’re really cold, and that’s been the issue for the Orioles.
So much so that general manager Mike Elias and skipper Brandon Hyde decided to shake things up on the coaching staff heading into 2025, with both co-hitting coaches not returning and two other coaches not being brought back.
An alteration to their hitting philosophy was also something that was discussed, with more focus being on hitting for average instead of hitting the long ball.
That’s worked to a degree.
Baltimore ranks seventh in batting average (.263) and 10th in on-base percentage (.324), while their power numbers are still respectable with a slugging percentage (.419) that also ranks 10th.
However, the same all-or-nothing results are present.
In the four wins they’ve had thus far, the Orioles have scored 37 runs.
In the six losses, they’ve plated just 10.
That is a staggering differential, and it highlights the extremes of this lineup that also showed signs of that during the second half of last season when they dominated teams in their wins, but also were shut down themselves when they were on the losing end of things.
How they generate a more consistent offensive output isn’t quite clear.
Outside of Henderson — who just came back from injury — the usual starters are all putting up solid slash lines. And with 44 RBI and 47 runs scored, they are top 10 in virtually every standard offensive category.
Getting to the point where they can replicate it every game is the next step in the development of this young group.
Until that happens, it’s going to be hard for Baltimore to become true championship contenders.
