Personal Note: 2025 Baseball Season Begins

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 2025 baseball season, and as you know I am a big baseball fan.  As you also should know, I am a huge Baltimore Orioles fan.  I have been an Orioles fan since I was eight years old in 1970.  That was their greatest year where they ran away with it all and won the World Series in five games.  How could I not be a fan for life at that point?

 

From 1970 to today is 54 seasons!  Gosh, where has life gone?  I have been intimate with the Orioles for all these years.  Through thick and thin I have been a devoted fan, and there were some very many thin years where suffering is putting it mildly.  However, they have built a great young team the last few years, and have made the playoffs the last two.  They are about to take the next step to possibly the World Series, but unfortunately they have been plagued with quite a few pitching injuries.  On the positive side, other teams have also succumbed to a number of pitching injuries.  (The long list of pitching injuries across the majors the last few years is very mysterious and disconcerting to say the least.)  Can the Orioles get back into the playoffs and take a World Series?  Here are my predictions for the season.

 

Maybe this is a good time for my prediction for the season. If you have been reading my comments, and if you remember, I had laid down a mark of 90 wins as a prediction. The offense is solid. I think this is an even better offense than last year where we averaged over 5 runs per game. I think the offense matches last year and possibly does better. The defense is just as solid. Infield defense is solid with the question mark of Holliday at second. Hopefully he's grown and I'll trust those who claim he's a potential superstar. I'll really believe it when I see it but I tend to believe it. The infield overall is above average. The outfield defense with the addition of O'Neill and Lauriano is even better than last year. This outfield could be defensively elite all around. And I think there is plenty of depth both in the outfield and infield. Catching between the two is at least average if not a shade above. I have no issues with our defense at any position.

 

All the question marks are in the pitching. With Grayson injured, this starting staff is pretty average. Without Grayson, there is no top of the rotation starter. Sugano is a complete unknown, and he looked great until he was crushed his last start. Morton is good but he's 41 and he was never an ace. Eflin is our best starter and while he had a great second half last year (that's what everyone remembers) he's never been a true ace and he's due for regression. The second half of last season is not his career norm. Povich is a rookie, one doesn't know how good Grayson will be when he comes back, nor how long he will last given his injury prone career. I think it was very smart to pick up Kyle Gibson, and that may prove what gets us into the playoffs. And this staff is old. Will it be crafty old or tired old? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that, given the ages, the clubhouse refrigerator is going to be stocked with prune juice.

 

The bullpen is an even bigger concern. Bautista will not be Bautista out of the starting gate. It will take time for him to recover. Kittridge's injury hurts. Cano handles lefties but is questionable against righties, and he lets an inordinate amount of inherited runners score. Cionel is inconsistent, so is Soto. His ERA over the last two years is around 4.50. He looks great at times and then gets hit. And what can we say about Seranthony. He just had what I call a California wildfire spring. He was torched worse this spring than the California forest fires. He came out of spring training with a 19.50 ERA! He had a 4.45 ERA last year, and slightly better than that the previous year. He gives up too many home runs. He will have to prove to me he is reliable. Akin is the only bright spot in the bullpen. I have total trust in Akin and I expect a great year.

 

So does the great offense and defense overcome the questionable pitching? We're lucky that the other teams in the division have their own question marks. I'm going to say we get to 90 wins and make the playoffs, but if the pitching collapses, look for a .500 season. If the pitching does better than I have projected, then we can beat 90 wins. I hope that is the case.

Go O’s!!!!