The Baltimore Orioles surprised many around baseball last season by posting an 83-79 record — a 29-win jump from the season before. This year, the O's have continued on that upward trajectory. Entering the month of September, Baltimore has already equaled its win total from 2022 and is on a trajectory for its highest win percentage since 1979 — a year the team made the World Series. This 101-win pace currently lands the club as the top team in the American League and sets up the Orioles for a deep playoff run.

Despite all of this talent, this is a young Orioles team that still has some noticeable flaws, most notably out of the bullpen following the injury to Felix Bautista. Here's how that weakness could hold back this talented Baltimore ballclub come October.

A lack of dependable, experienced relief pitchers

The Orioles received a bad bit of news on August 25 when star closer Felix Bautista left the middle of a save opportunity with an arm injury. The All-Star closer has a 1.48 ERA to go with 33 saves and a phenomenal 16.2 strikeouts per nine innings. Bautista is currently in the 15-day IL with what the club is calling a “UCL injury” — two words a pitcher never wants to hear. Bautista, alongside Yennier Cano (1.56 ERA in 63.1 IP), formed one of baseball's most fearsome eighth and ninth-inning duos this season.

Cano earned the save the following night but could not do so the night after. This slip-up was customary of the Orioles bullpen this season. Baltimore has a very good team ERA out of the bullpen (3.56, sixth best in MLB), but outside of Bautista, O's relievers have earned just nine saves in 29 opportunities — with nine players blowing save chances. Even Cano, an All-Star in his own right, is only 5/10 in save opportunities. With Felix Bautista out, the entirety of the Orioles bullpen is shifted back one inning, placing each pitcher in a more high-leverage (and a more unfamiliar) role.

Danny Coulombe has been another go-to late-inning guy for the Orioles, as 26 of his 50 appearances out of the pen have come in high-leverage situations. But moving down the pecking order, Cionel Perez only has 15 high-leverage appearances, and no other Oriole on the active roster is in double digits. This team heavily relied on Bautista and Cano (both among the league leaders in relief appearances), plus Bryan Baker and Mike Baumann (combined 101 appearances) are both at Triple-A after showing signs of fatigue in the last month or so.

Overall, the main guys in this bullpen have been relied on heavily. Six relievers have made at least 45 appearances, while trade-deadline acquisition Shintaro Fujinami has pitched 18 times in 36 games since the Orioles brought him in from the Oakland Athletics. Baltimore's reliance on these players has started to take its toll. Of the eight Baltimore pitchers with at least 20 relief outings, four are currently either on the injured list or at Triple-A.

Without any real dominant starting pitchers, the Baltimore Orioles have relied on their bullpen this season to win baseball games. A true ace has still yet to emerge among the starting five, and the bullpen depth is slowly dissipating, leaving the club in an unenviable position moving forward. The Orioles will be a dangerous team in the playoffs, but the lack of dependable, experienced relievers out of the bullpen could prevent the team from taking home the World Series.