Can Baltimore Orioles Overcome Obstacles To Perform at Level Needed for Postseason?

The Baltimore Orioles have a lot of challenges to overcome in the 2024 MLB playoffs.

Sep 28, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Baltimore Orioles third baseman Emmanuel Rivera (26) celebrates his solo home run against the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning at Target Field. / Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

There may not be a team heading into the 2024 MLB playoffs on shakier ground than the Baltimore Orioles.

In the first half of the season, they were among the best teams in the sport. Their lineup was mashing, overcoming an overwhelming amount of injuries to starting pitchers who were sidelined for the season.

Unfortunately, the lineup would eventually cool off. That led to production slipping across the board as they limped into the postseason.

Can the Orioles regain the form they showed throughout early July? There is a mountain-sized number of obstacles for the team to overcome that Andy McCullough of The Athletic has highlighted as a fatal flaw that could eliminate them from the postseason.

“A year after winning 101 games and the American League East, the Orioles underperformed expectations despite an excellent season from second-year shortstop Gunnar Henderson and a strong platform campaign from free-agent-to-be pitcher Corbin Burnes. A landslide of arm injuries wrecked the rotation in the first half. The team stumbled throughout the second half. The Craig Kimbrel experiment backfired. Adley Rutschman’s production dipped. Jackson Holliday has yet to take off. Jorge Mateo could not make it back from elbow surgery. A lat injury will keep Grayson Rodriguez from pitching in October. The roster still has plenty of young talent. But the group has played sluggish baseball for months. Can they flip the switch?”

Pretty much anything that could have gone wrong for Baltimore in 2024 has.

They attempted to address the starting pitching woes ahead of the deadline. Zach Eflin has been excellent since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays, but Trevor Rogers, who came over from the Miami Marlins, performed so poorly that he was demoted after recording a 7.11 ERA in four starts.

There will be a lot of pressure on Burnes and Eflin to carry the load for the pitching staff. As McCullough mentioned, the bullpen is far from a certainty after Craig Kimbrel was designated for assignment because of poor performance, leading to Seranthony Dominguez taking over as the closer.

There are certainly more question marks than a team would like to have heading into October. But, at least the Orioles made it there.

We have seen at points this season how good they can be when everything is clicking. As McCullough said, will they be able to flip that switch?

Recent performance indicates it could be possible. They ended the regular season on a high note, winning five out of six games against the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins.