Biggest source of optimism from Orioles’ Opening Day win comes from unlikely source

Throughout the offseason, much was made of the Baltimore Orioles' projected offensive lineup. Just a few days before Opening Day, The Athletic ranked the Orioles' offense third in all of baseball. Yet on Thursday, in the Orioles' first game of the season, their offense was late to the party, and instead it was the team's maligned pitching staff that carried the Orioles to an Opening Day victory.

After so much hype around the Orioles' lineup, it could be seen as a red flag that the offense looked so immediately overwhelmed; however, in examining the results of the Orioles' first game, there is actually a silver lining to the offense's disappointing debut. They did enough to win the game despite not getting anything from their superstar, Gunnar Henderson, or their two major offseason acquisitions, Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso.

The top of the Orioles lineup will be a major force this season, even if they've gotten off to a slow start

Why is that a silver lining? Because out of all the position players on the roster, those three players have been the most consistent offensive performers. All three have career-long track records of consistent production. If Craig Albernaz decides to keep those three at the top of the order (and with how durable all three of them have been for their careers, it's possible they literally could play every game), there are not going to be double-digit games where that trio of hitters doesn't provide a single hit.

The Orioles' lineup just absorbed what could be the worst combined performance from the top of their order and came away with a win. That's reason to celebrate. It would be much worse if the inverse had happened, where Ward, Henderson, and Alonso kept setting the table, but the rest of the lineup let them down. That would feel like the beginning of a dangerous trend.

Adley Rutschman, Samuel Basallo, and Tyler O'Neill each reached base twice in that game, and seeing Colton Cowser make contact in a critical moment was just as, if not more encouraging than seeing Ward, Henderson, and Alonso hit three homers back to back to back to start the game would have been.

Ward, Henderson, and Alonso are going to be fixtures at the top of the Orioles lineup, and they are going to be productive fixtures. If the rest of the order can continue to chip in a few runs per game as they did on Thursday, those three are going to produce enough to make it so the Orioles will be able to win games by more than one run.