Peter Schmuck: Pondering the possibility of a playoff-free October for the Orioles

This is no time to panic, but only because it wouldn’t do any good at this troubling point in what was supposed to be a slam-dunk playoff season.

The Orioles have all but run out of pitching and the pressure that has been placed on the young offensive lineup is palpable. Even Cy Young candidate Corbin Burnes suddenly looks as though he’s afraid to attack hitters mid-count and the club is making roster moves like it’s the last few days of spring training.

The wise guys in Vegas are still saying that the O’s are a 97 percent favorite to reach the postseason, but they enter Friday night’s game against the sizzling Astros under .500 since the All-Star break with both the rotation and the bullpen in shambles.

I so want to be wrong about this, but they are one game into a seven-game stretch against the Astros and the Dodgers and by the time it’s over there is a very good chance that the O’s will have a bunch of wild-card wannabees breathing down their necks.

Sure, they opened the four-game Houston series with more wins than every team but the Dodgers and Yankees and they still are among the game’s top-scoring clubs, but they saved up most of those pennies during the non-mathematical first half of the season, when they still had a solid bullpen and just needed a few trade deadline moves to shore up the injury-depleted rotation.

Now, both of the starters they acquired a month ago are out of the picture, Zach Eflin with right shoulder inflammation and Trevor Rogers demoted to Triple-A Norfolk. The top of the current rotation features the suddenly struggling Burnes, a resurgent Dean Kremer and a thirty-something guy who hadn’t pitched in the majors in seven years when executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias threw him into the bullpen mix this spring.

And get this: Albert Suárez is the best pitcher on the team at the moment.

The other best thing the Orioles have had going for them the past few weeks is the midseason malaise that also has plagued most of the other top teams in the major leagues, including the Yankees, who have been in lockstep with the Orioles at the top of the AL East.

The Yankees also have injury issues and have underperformed for the past several weeks, but pitching ace Gerrit Cole is starting to look like himself again and the remaining schedule has them positioned well to outrun the Orioles to the finish line.

Nobody around here is giving up on a second straight division title, but the Orioles have now got to worry about what’s going on in the rear-view mirror.

The Royals and Twins are only two games behind them in the wild-card race and could overtake them in the next week if they struggle against the Astros and the winningest team in the National League. The only other AL team with a realistic playoff shot is the surprising Red Sox, who are still 5 ½ games behind the Orioles but have won their last two games and could get within striking distance if the O’s don’t get right in a hurry.

It will probably be up to the offense to make that happen. The hitters woke up with nine runs on Tuesday against the Mets before Sean Manaea held them hitless for the first 5 2/3 innings on Wednesday and rookie Spencer Arrighetti held them to three hits over six scoreless innings on Thursday night.

Arrighetti pitched a great game, but he was coming off a loss to the abysmal White Sox and arrived at Oriole Park with a 5-11 record and 5.20 ERA. Still, he was ready for prime time on the nationally televised FOX broadcast while Burnes was unable to control the hitters at the bottom of the Astros lineup.

Maybe things are not as bleak as they look at the moment, but rookie phenom Jackson Holliday is slumping again and Colton Cowser is struggling after a nice run in the leadoff spot. Anthony Santander and Gunnar Henderson are the only teammates in the majors with more than 30 homers each besides Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, but they also have had trouble in clutch situations.

Maybe that will all turn around this weekend, but – quite frankly – it doesn’t look good.