The Orioles have found one thing they can do better than almost anybody else: use the bench.
Baltimore leads MLB in pinch hits, and the late-inning swings have given this team real life in games that otherwise might have slipped away. Rookie Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers delivered one of those moments Saturday night, coming through off the bench to beat the Rays and lock up another series win over the best team in the AL.
But that’s also the problem. The Orioles keep getting their best offensive jolt from the players who aren’t in the starting lineup, and that split has become impossible to ignore. Their regular groups have struggled to produce for any real stretch, and the team has spent much of the season stuck on the edge of the final Wild Card race in a year where the American League has been described as weak.
The numbers tell the story. Entering play Sunday, Baltimore’s subs ranked fifth in slugging percentage, fourth in total bases, second in RBIs, fifth in home runs and seventh in OPS.
That’s a dangerous bench. It’s also a strange way to build a contender, because the everyday lineup is the group that has to carry the offense from the first pitch, not just clean up late.
The starting hitters have been nowhere near as productive. Baltimore’s regulars ranked 23rd in total bases, and the offense around them has too often sputtered before the game even gets to the bullpen. The result has been a season full of false starts, brief surges and too many nights where four runs never materialize.
That disconnect showed up again Sunday. Colton Cowser was the only Oriole to leave the yard, while Gunnar Henderson saw his season OPS drop below .700 and his OPS with two outs and runners in scoring position fall below .450.
The lineup choices have only sharpened the frustration. Adley Rutschman stayed at the top of the order for a long stretch despite carrying a .670 OPS since May 1, and Henderson has now been put in that same kind of spot. Taylor Ward has also been given more plate appearances than anyone else on the roster, often as a leadoff hitter, in an effort to draw walks without providing much slug or run production.
There was also the strange treatment of Blaze Alexander, who was one of the most productive hitters in baseball from April 28 until he got hurt just before the All-Star break. Over that span, he ranked in the top 10 in MLB in wRC+, yet he kept getting buried near the bottom of a bad lineup.
That is the central contradiction with this Orioles team. The bench has been good enough to keep them alive in games and even steal a few wins. The everyday offense has not been nearly stable enough to turn those flashes into a real run.
The Orioles are five games under .500, they have not been a .500 team since April 14, they have not won more than three straight, and the strikeout rate has remained far too high. Even with strong pitching helping keep them afloat, the offense has not given them nearly enough.
For all the talk from Mike Elias in the winter about the strength of this lineup, the production has come from the wrong place. The team he built has done damage off the bench. It just hasn’t done nearly enough where it matters most: in the starting nine.
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