Baltimore Orioles Hit New Low As Impressive Streak of Avoiding Sweeps Gets Snapped

On April 20, when the Baltimore Orioles got destroyed by the Cincinnati Reds, 24-2, many pointed to that moment being rock bottom for the current iteration of the franchise.

I stated it could get a whole lot worse, though, and this past week proved me to be correct.

That isn't to pat myself on the back.

It's just a statement that shows how far from grace the Orioles have fallen compared to where they were in 2023 when they finished that season with the best record in the American League and looked like they would be the next powerhouse in Major League Baseball for years to come.

Coming off their disastrous defeat on April 20 against the Reds, Baltimore followed it up by being one-hit against the Washington Nationals after a day off.

The Orioles dropped that set to their Beltway rivals, and with another opportunity to regroup that was given to them by Mother Nature after their series opener against the Detroit Tigers on Friday was postponed, they lost both legs of the doubleheader on Saturday that handed them another series defeat.

Sunday was the icing on the cake.

Facing reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, there was little confidence that Baltimore would get their bats going against that caliber of pitcher, and that turned out to be exactly what happened.

The Orioles were shutout, losing 7-0 to get swept for the first time in 30 series.

Baltimore was atrocious on offense once again, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and striking out 15 times.

Since Easter, they have gone 6-for-60 when runners are in position to score.

It's hapless for the Orioles right now, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix things unless they are able to start producing in these situations like they did in 2023 when they led the Majors in batting average when runners were in scoring position.

What has happened to this club is downright shocking.

And it's even more concerning when comparing how Baltimore has looked against the Nationals and Tigers, two other franchises who underwent rebuilds of their own and are starting to come out of it with young stars littered throughout their rosters.

So far this season, both of those teams have found a way to produce hits when they need to, either putting up dominant results against their opponents or creating late-game drama by winning in comeback fashion.

The Orioles have largely done neither of those things.

There is still time to right the ship for Baltimore, but things have to change in a hurry.

Hopefully this past week can be looked back upon as the moment where things turned around for this team and they get themselves going in the right direction after they hit a new low.

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