Baltimore Orioles Won't Be Competitive in AL East With Starting Rotation Struggling

The Baltimore Orioles might not be able to compete in the AL East with how the rotation has performed so far.

Apr 26, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Charlie Morton (50) delivers in the second inning against the Detroit Tigers during game two of a double header at Comerica Park. | David Reginek-Imagn Images

It has been a disastrous start to the season for the Baltimore Orioles and unfortunately, things don’t appear like they will be improving anytime soon.

Despite totaling the most wins over the past two years in the American League, it appears like the Orioles are heading in the wrong direction as a franchise.

Even though this team once looked like it was going to be successful for a very long time with one of the best young cores in the game, some poor offseason decisions made this winter have hurt the team.

With the first month of the season finishing up, Baltimore is in last place in the American League East and not much is going right for the team.

Now, even though the year is still young, it feels like panic time for the Orioles. With Baltimore trailing the New York Yankees by 6.5 games already, the time to turn it around has to come soon. Unfortunately, that might not be realistic.

Jeff Passan of ESPN (subscription required) recently wrote about the Orioles rotation not being good enough to keep this team competitive in the AL East this season.

“After projected Opening Day starter Grayson Rodriguez went down because of a shoulder injury and Zach Eflin hit the injured list because of a lat strain, it has become clearer than ever that the O's lack the sort of starting pitching to stay competitive in the AL East.”

Easily the main reason for the struggles of the team this year is because of some of the decisions made this past winter.

Not re-signing or finding an adequate replacement for Corbin Burnes was a massive error by Baltimore. Rather than spending to get an ace, they brought in two veterans in Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton.

While Sugano has been fine in his first month coming over from Japan, Morton has been one of the worst pitchers in the Majors.

Even though adding both provided depth to the rotation, Baltimore needed to do more and didn’t.

Furthermore, the already weak rotation was further impacted when Zach Eflin joined the injured list with Grayson Rodriguez. With their two best pitchers out and one of their key offseason additions struggling, it’s easy to understand why they have one of the worst units in the league so far.

With no signs of the rotation getting any better any time soon, the Orioles might have to realize that 2025 isn’t going to be their year.

After two straight seasons with a lot of success and what looked like a bright future, the outlook for Baltimore all of a sudden doesn’t look great. With the AL East shaping up to be competitive, the Orioles falling behind early could end their campaign quickly.