Adley Rutschman's injury could be the last straw for this Orioles season

When Adley Rutschman was suspiciously absent from the Baltimore Orioles lineup for two games in a row, Orioles fans immediately began to worry that something was wrong. The Orioles had not added him to any sort of injury report, but it's rare for Rutschman to miss two games in a row, and when the Orioles were down late to the Mariners in both games, it seemed like a pinch hit opportunity might arise; the camera continually cut to Rutschman sitting in the dugout, not even wearing his uniform. After their second straight loss to Seattle, the Orioles finally revealed that hamstring tightness was to blame for Rutschman's sudden lack of availability. That bad news, combined with the fact that the Orioles are on a four-game skid, makes for a very bleak picture in Baltimore this week.

After back-to-back tough seasons, Rutschman has returned to form. He leads the team in WAR, he's been the Orioles' best defender, and he has been their best offensive player by wRC+ and wOBA. The expected stats even indicate that he's been a little bit unlucky and is due for some positive regression.

Adley Rutschman has been great this year, losing him for extended time would be disastrous

With so many players that the Orioles trusted to play big roles in their 2026 season dramatically underperforming, Rutschman's resurgence is a big reason that the Orioles have not sunk to the very bottom of the AL standings. If he misses extended time with a hamstring injury and Samuel Basallo continues to be in and out of the lineup with his own injury issues, that leaves the Orioles lineup in a difficult spot.

In the last two games that Rustchman has missed, the Orioles have missed him dearly. Time after time in just two games, the top of the order came up with runners on and fewer than two outs, and Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso, who have been really struggling with runners in scoring position, failed them. Having Rutschman nestled in between those two could have flipped one, if not both of those games. Also, because Rutschman was out, Colton Cowser, who up until about two weeks ago was benched, was elevated to the cleanup spot, where he went a combined 0-7 with one walk over the two games. The top of the Orioles' lineup is just much worse without Rutschman.

It does still remain to be seen just how serious this injury is. The Orioles are always weird about injuries, as demonstrated by the fact that they tried to hide that Rutschman was injured in the first place. Even the MASN broadcast that works for the Orioles made a point to say that they were just as in the dark as all the fans were when it came to Rutschman's status.

Hamstrings are not to be trifled with, and if Rutschman's injury was serious enough that he wasn't even considered available to pinch hit in an emergency, it would lead you to believe that this is not a small injury. If it is serious, it wouldn't be surprising to see Rutschman go on the IL today, and that would be the last the Orioles see of him until July. If that's the case, the Orioles are going to lose more games than they win while he's out, and by the time he returns, could be all but mathematically eliminated.

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