The Baltimore Orioles entered the season looking to disrupt the AL East, commonly viewed as the best division in baseball. Several months later, they won their 100th game in clinching the division, another milestone in a season with no shortage of memories.
The Orioles’ never-ending pipeline of prospects did their share of carrying the burden, but it was the pitching corps that surprised in producing a playoff-ready rotation. Manager Brandon Hyde has some choices to make on how to narrow down his options with time running out until October, an appropriately good problem to have for a squad so loaded.
“When you’re looking at what a lot of the guys have done lately, they’re making it hard,” former Orioles pitcher Steve Johnson said on Glenn Clark Radio Sept. 25.
That rotation came up big in September to keep Baltimore’s division lead intact. The Orioles dropped two straight games to start series against the second-place Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians in recent weeks, only to fight back and split both times.
Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez have established themselves as pillars of an Orioles postseason pitching unit. Bradish has posted a 2.86 ERA, good enough to put him in Cy Young conversations, and Rodriguez has recorded a 2.56 ERA since his July recall.
Despite their excellence, it was John Means, the club’s one-time ace who missed 17 months with elbow and back injuries, who raised the most eyebrows when his team fought back against Cleveland. In only three starts, he already looks to be recapturing his old dominance. Hyde allowed him to pitch into the eighth inning on Sept. 23 to the tune of one hit, one earned run and four strikeouts.
“I wondered if they were going to push him to see how long he could go into this game, and he kept going,” Johnson said. “I was actually pretty surprised he was able to start almost right where he left off in a way after he got activated and got a couple outings under his belt. If he’s able to be the Means that he was before he got hurt … he can be a big boost to this squad going into the playoffs.”
Means’ reappearance makes things interesting ahead of the playoffs, as postseason rotations are known to shrink down to who managers trust the most.
With trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty already accepting more of a bullpen role, that leaves Dean Kremer and Kyle Gibson fighting for the role as the final playoff starter.
Kremer has remained a consistent pitcher all season, holding opponents to four earned runs or fewer in 26 of his 32 starts, but his recent inability to pitch deep into games has taxed the bullpen some. Gibson, conversely, has made the most of his September, going at least six innings three times.
“Gibson had a month to basically prove himself in a way. As a veteran, you know what’s on the line. You can read between the lines in terms of, ‘I’m pitching for my playoff spot, my spot on this team,'” Johnson said. “He’s done that all year. He’s had some bad starts, just like everybody, but then he comes through and has one going into the seventh.”
“Maybe Kremer’s a guy where if a guy goes out early, he’s able to cover four innings for you and save the bullpen, keep the team in the game. With this offense, that’s basically all you can ask,” the former Oriole added.
But while Baltimore now has all of their starters back, there will be no 2023 return for Félix Bautista. The All-Star closer was lights out all year, but a partially torn UCL sidelined him in September and Orioles GM Mike Elias announced Sept. 30 that he will not return for the postseason.
While his absence has been felt, the bullpen has united to fill in for him with some admirable outings at the back end of games from Yennier Cano, DL Hall, Shintaro Fujinami and most recently Tyler Wells. The division win will give relievers valuable rest while their peers duke it out in the wild-card round.
“They’ve proven that multiple guys can get [the closer] job done, too,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that they want it that way a lot of the time … but it’s worked so far.”
It’s been their resilience and lack of holes in the rotation and lineup that have proven the difference for the 2023 Orioles.
“The way this team has been able to keep from getting into these big losing streaks is really unbelievable,” Johnson said. “They grind and they’re able to say, ‘We’ve lost three in a row, we’ve lost two in a row, here’s another winning streak.’ … If they’re able to continue that through the playoffs, it’s going be a fun season.”
For more from Johnson, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credits: Colin Murphy and Kenya Allen/PressBox
Updated Oct. 2 with Félix Bautista news.