The Orioles kick off a three-game series against a Royals team that brings the AL’s worst record into the series. An early test for the O’s as they try to avoid last year’s fate is whether they can rally when facing a scuffling squad while dealing with their own problems. They were able to do this just a couple of weeks ago when they played well against the White Sox and Giants in succession. The same opportunity arrives this week with the Royals followed by the Red Sox.
For more on this series, check out Paul Folkemer’s preview on Camden Chat from earlier today. There’s a lot going on with Kansas City. They’ve got some recent public drama between their manager and longtime stalwart Salvador Perez, who is putting up “young Orioles hitter” kinds of numbers at the plate early this season. They moved their fences in this season to try to spark some offense and, as of the last time I looked, had gotten exactly one extra home run from the new dimensions. A lot of their relievers have been bad, as have two of their starters; unfortunately for the Orioles, the bad starters aren’t lined up for this set.
Over at our sister site Royals Review, they’re calling this a must-win series, and no wonder. Kansas City is already 7-15. If they lose at least two games here to the Orioles, they’re 8-17 at best. We know from the 2025 Orioles example that it’s tough to come back from that even if you start playing better. The toughest thing is that, if you’re bad enough to start 8-17, you’re probably bad enough to just keep on being bad. We are well aware of the Orioles challenges. Perhaps this is a classic “stoppable force vs. movable object” situation.
Kyle Bradish is on the mound for the Orioles. He will have three real outfielders in the outfield for this game, which is not something he had in his last start. Maybe that means it will go better for him. If you take away the egregiously-scored triple that should have been an error in that last game, his ERA drops to 4.58. That’s still not great but we’d feel better about it than something 5+.
It’s not a very good-looking Orioles lineup, but then, it won’t be for as long as so many of its parts are struggling. I feel the temptation to want Jackson and Taveras higher up in the order as long as they’re hitting and other guys aren’t. It probably doesn’t matter all that much. Wherever they are, more players need to hit.
It’s not going to be an easy one for the Orioles batters tonight, as they’re going up against Seth Lugo. The Royals righty is bringing a 1.48 ERA into the game. I am expecting more of the continuing misery from the Guardians series, when the O’s were also facing tough pitcher after tough pitcher.