Orioles Insider Snubs Trevor Rogers With Opening Day Prediction

There's a very strong case to be made that Baltimore Orioles southpaw Trevor Rogers was the best starting pitcher in the American League in the second half of the 2025 season.

Rogers made one start in the middle of May, went back down to the minor leagues, and then got called up again about a month later. He went on to produce a 9-3 record with a 1.81 ERA and 103 strikeouts across 109.2 innings pitched (18 starts). And if the Orioles had made it to the postseason, there was little doubt that he would have been their starting pitcher for Game 1.

While expecting Rogers to replicate a sub-2.00 ERA for the entire season might be too much to ask, the bottom line is that expectations are high for him and the rest of the Orioles' staff. Rogers added to these expectations by saying, "You look at the five guys that we have, man, I’d put this starting rotation up against anybody in the league and we’re going to have success.... The guys that we have now are some of the best in baseball," during his appearance on the "Early Birds Podcast".

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers | Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

The other most intriguing pitcher on the Orioles' rotation is Kyle Bradish, who has missed a lot of time with injuries over the past several seasons but has been excellent when healthy.

Bradish is fully healthy right now, and several Orioles insiders have extremely high expectations for what he can do this season if he can remain on the mound.

Insider Asserts Kyle Bradish Will Be Orioles' Opening Day Starter

One such insider is MASN's Roch Kubatko, who made a bold prediction during a March 2 fan "mailbag" article.

Kubatko was asked, "Who’s going to be the Opening Day starter?" at one point in the mailbag. He responded by saying, "I’m sticking with Kyle Bradish based on the longer track record. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2023 and pitched really well before and after his elbow surgery.

"Trevor Rogers is the other candidate, of course. Like so many others, I’ve got him No. 2 – which also describes many of my predictions so far this offseason," he added.

Spring training mailbag leftovers for off-day breakfast - MASN #orioles https://t.co/zokn9EFfDw
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) March 2, 2026

While it will be interesting to see whether Baltimore goes with Bradish or Rogers on Opening Day, the most important thing is that both guys remain healthy and available throughout the season.

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