MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
With the first installment of the annual Baltimore-Washington Parkway series (the parkway can take you directly from one ballpark to the other one unlike the separate beltways) set to begin tonight in Washington, it should be interesting as to how both teams and the series itself are accepted by the respective fanbases.
With both teams off to similar starts in the standings, outfielders James Wood and Dylan Crews, shortstop CJ Abrams and left handed starter MacKenzie Gore form the exciting young core of what could be the next contending Washington Nationals team.
The Baltimore Orioles, meanwhile, have technically surpassed the point the Nats are again striving to reach based on the experience of their everyday lineup. Due to the Orioles’ starting pitching, though, it just doesn’t feel that way. Instead, it feels as though the Orioles are the team in the rebuild, with the Nats seemingly being in the favorites role for this series.
Thus, it will be curious to see how what is normally a large and loud Baltimore fan contingent will react tonight at Nationals Park.
Baltimore fans had a loud time of it on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards, spending most of their time booing, and neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox were even in town. The Orioles lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 24-2, and Orioles fans did nothing to spare their displeasure, beginning with Orioles starter Charlie Morton, who gave up seven runs in 2 ⅓ innings, and two relievers who gave up eight more.
In all, Orioles pitchers gave up 15 runs through seven innings with infielder Jorge Mateo and catcher Gary Sanchez surrendering the final nine in the eighth and the ninth. Led by Morton, the Orioles carry the worst starting pitching ERA in baseball of 6-plus runs per nine innings.
Orioles fans have a right to be angry and to express their displeasure. After 20-plus years of mostly sucky baseball the organization’s successful rebuild has put this team in the middle of a championship window that many fans, this one included, believe general manager Mike Elias, who masterfully orchestrated the rebuild, did not do enough to enhance over the offseason.
Witness Morton, who has had a superb 17-year career in the big leagues entering this season, but through his first five starts with Baltimore is 0-5 with an ERA of 10.89 with a WHIP (walks and hits per inning) of 2.23.
Morton was one of Elias’ chief pitching acquisitions over the offseason, signing a one-year $15-million contract, which likely wouldn’t have sounded the bells and the whistles that it did if Morton was not 41 years of age. Elias’ other chief pitching acquisition was 36-year-old right hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who until four starts ago had spent his entire career as one of the best pitchers in the Japanese professional league.
Sugano, while still finding his footing in the big leagues, has actually pitched pretty well through his first four starts.
With ace Corbin Burnes having left for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Orioles began spring training with nine options for starting pitchers. Five of them – Zach Eflin, Chayce McDermott, Grayson Rodriguez, Trevor Rogers and Albert Suárez – are on the injured list, joining Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, who have been recovering from Tommy John surgery since last season.
Kyle Gibson, who won 15 games for the Orioles in 2023, but left for St. Louis in free agency, has returned to the Orioles and could start as soon as Friday. Dean Kremer, who starts tonight in Washington, has been erratic and young lefty Cade Povich seems to have taken a step back after his solid month of September last season.
On Saturday, O’s top pitching prospect Brandon Young, who was signed as an undrafted free agent, became the first pitcher either drafted or signed since Elias became GM in 2018 to make it to the big leagues with the Orioles, which can be viewed as rather telling.
Young settled down after two rocky innings to go 4 in the win over the Reds, yet was returned to Norfolk to make room for relief help (that, in fact, did help the Reds on Sunday) and now must stay there for 15 days unless he’s replacing a pitcher on the injured list, meaning, until Gibson returns, there are very few, if any, options left for the Orioles other than Morton.
“Look at our starts this series,” manager Brandon Hyde said after Sunday’s debacle. “We didn’t get through the fourth the first game. Four innings. 3 1/3, something, and … 2 1/3. You’re just not going to be able to win games that way. You’re going to win once in a while because you’re going to outscore teams, but that’s not how you win Major League Baseball games.”
Morton is the eighth major league starting pitcher Elias has brought to Baltimore since 2023 and five of them produced ERAs just under 5.00.
Yes, the trades for Burnes and then Eflin were good ones; the deadline deals the previous two seasons for Jack Flaherty and Trevor Rogers were not and have yet to be good ones.
An Orioles fan asked yesterday, “How old is Nolan Ryan? Could we sign him for the rotation?”
Nolan Ryan is 78. And it couldn’t hurt to call him.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT