The Orioles head into the All-Star break with a little bit of momentum and a lot of ground still to cover.
After winning their fourth straight game Sunday - their longest streak in 2026 - and watching Toronto lose again, Baltimore moved into fourth place and trimmed its gap to the last Wild Card spot to two games. Fangraphs has the Orioles at 21.4 percent to reach the postseason, but the club’s outlook is still very much alive if it can avoid a stumble after the break.
That’s the balancing act now: acknowledge a 46-51 record that falls short of the preseason World Series talk, while also recognizing that the American League has opened a door and Baltimore has enough talent to walk through it. Injuries have kept stacking up, but the Orioles have stayed in the race.
“I think two things can be true,” said bench coach Donnie Ecker. “Your record is the truth, and so that does define who we’ve been.
It does not define where we can go. You think about what could be possible for this team and we’ll put no boundaries on what the answer to that can be.”
The recent surge has come from more than one place. The rotation and lineup have helped drag the club back within striking distance, and the bullpen was excellent in the Royals series. Baltimore got 4 1/3 scoreless innings Sunday from five relievers, 2 1/3 shutout innings Saturday from three more, and two scoreless frames Friday from Rico Garcia and Andrew Kittredge.
That kind of stretch is why the clubhouse is talking about October with a straight face.
“Yeah, absolutely,” said outfielder Taylor Ward. “I just think we’ve got to keep the momentum going after the break.”
Momentum is a slippery thing, of course, and the first game back can erase it in a hurry. Still, the Orioles would rather carry a streak into Friday than spend the first night back trying to rediscover their rhythm.
“Something I always remember is there’s so many games,” said Jeremiah Jackson. “Obviously, first half, second half, to me it doesn’t really matter.
Just like any one player can have a really, really good first half and a bad second half, and vice-versa. I think it’s more so a timing thing, and you string along some good streaks and some good times, and you’re looking at a good little season.”
Leody Taveras sounded just as confident about the team’s place in the race.
“That’s always been in our mind, that we are able to get there,” said outfielder Leody Taveras. “We’ve got enough to go there with. We’ve just got to play the game, game by game, and we’ll be all right.”
Starter Shane Baz pointed to the pitching as the foundation for the push.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” he replied.
“Personally, I think it starts with the pitching. You know, I think we’ve done a really good job of just giving ourselves a chance every day and coming out swinging, not being passive in the first few innings and not letting us fall behind, stuff like that. So I think it’s a great sign.
“I think that’s some of the best baseball we’ve played this year, just over the last four games. So, yeah, it’s good to see. I think everybody’s ready for a couple days off, but everybody’s excited to get going again.”
Andrew Kittredge said the Orioles have been playing “cleaner baseball,” and the results have backed that up. There’s still work to do - Baltimore made two more errors Sunday - but the defense also delivered several sharp plays, including Tyler O’Neill and Leody Taveras in the ninth inning. Saturday, Kyle Bradish carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning with help from Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Pete Alonso.
“Seems like we’re not really making some of the little mistakes we were making earlier on,” Kittredge said. “I think there’s been times in this first half where we’ve looked and played like we thought we should, and then a lot of times where it was like, man, we’re close, but we’re not winning games maybe we should have, and things like that. But lately it feels like, I know even this last month has kind of had ups and downs, but it seems like just since the last month it’s been better.
“Not all the games have amounted to wins necessarily, but it seems like we’re playing a better brand of baseball. I think the last couple nights have showed that, too, so I’m excited to see where we can go.”
For now, the Orioles get a few days to rest, reset and head to Houston with something they haven’t had all season for long: a real chance to make the second half matter.
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The larger concern is not just where this season sits now, but how closely it fits the pattern that has followed Elias from the start. Baltimore has not finished a year with more than 78 wins under his watch, and even with the organization trying to build around a young core, the margin for error keeps shrinking as injuries pile up and the standings tighten. [Read more 🡒]