Orioles' offense searching for more lopsided box scores

Each year, big league teams average just under five runs per game, according to Baseball Reference. That average hasn't eclipsed five runs per game since 2000, and it hasn't dipped below four since 1976.

So, it's fair to say that scoring four or five runs in a game is an average day at the office for a major league offense. For the Baltimore Orioles, that benchmark hasn't been common enough.

In their 39-game stretch to kick off 2025, Baltimore scored five runs or more 13 times. That's just 33 percent of the time. For comparison, in the 2024 season, the Orioles hit that number 75 times over the span of 162 games, or over 46% of the time.

Of course, it isn't breaking news to point out that the Orioles have had a better record in the games that they've scored more runs. But in those 13 games, the Birds are a whopping 11-2. Unfortunately for Baltimore, they've had more games scoring two runs or fewer. 16 to be exact, of which only one has resulted in a victory.

"We can feel their struggles, we can feel their pain," hitting coach Cody Asche said Sunday. "It's a big weight to bear for these guys, but it's our job. We love doing it for them, but at the end of the day, we have to keep showing up. Showing up with the attitude that we're going to take small wins into tomorrow and you do that day after day and small wins turn into big wins."

Many of the frustrations surrounding the offense stem from the fact that we've seen them succeed before, and often. Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, and Jordan Westburg, All-Stars a season ago, are all outside the top-five Orioles in OPS this season. Besides Anthony Santander and a healthy Colton Cowser, it's largely the same team that put up much better numbers a season ago.

An offensive outburst like Sunday's 7-3 win certainly feels nice, but it more than likely won't solve all of Baltimore's problems. If the Orioles can string together some more league-average games offensively, they'll find themselves in a much better place in the standings.

More Orioles news from Birds Watcher