Baltimore Orioles Desperately Need Ace To Finish Season Strong

The Baltimore Orioles are counting on their ace to continue turning their season around down the final stretch.

Aug 28, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) delivers to the plate in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have not had much luck with their pitching staff this season and have even started to see their healthy pitchers struggle uncharacteristically. If they hope to compete in the postseason, their ace needs to turn things back around.

Jake Rill of MLB.com looked around the Orioles' roster to find the player that had 'the most to prove down the stretch' and came up with Corbin Burnes thanks to his recent struggles.

"With how banged up the Baltimore rotation has been this season, they need to be able to count on Burnes to lead the staff down the stretch and into the postseason,"said Rill. "They hope that his most recent start vs. the Chicago White Sox on Monday was a step in the right direction."

The Orioles made a splash this past offseason when they traded for the ace from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for DL Hall, Joey Ortiz and a draft pick back in February.

It was a clear investment into what they believed to be a World Series-caliber roster and building out of an incredible rotation of pitchers.

For the first few months of the season, Burnes held up his end of the deal by looking like the same shutdown pitcher that people had come to expect.

He went into August with a 2.47 ERA and was still in Cy Young conversations despite the Detroit Tigers flamethrower, Tarik Skubal, really making that award his to lose a while back.

August, however, was not kind to Burnes. He had to face some of the top offenses in baseball like the Cleveland Guardians, Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He got lit up in pretty much every game.

Over his five starts that month he had a 7.36 ERA and gave up 28 runs (21 earned) over 25.2 innings pitched.

It was insult added to injury given how banged up the Baltimore pitching staff has been this season. There are currently four starting pitchers on the injured list and the only one expected to come back is Grayson Rodriguez.

The Orioles will desperately need him to turn things around if they want to put their best foot forward once the postseason rolls around.

The former Cy Young winner did have a nice outing his last time on the mound, albeit against the White Sox, but hopes are high that it's a sign of good things to come for the end of the season.