The Baltimore Orioles are heading into the stretch run looking less like a club about to catch fire and more like one that’s running on fumes.
That’s the reality behind the noise from ownership and the front office. Since June 21, 2024, the Orioles have been a bottom-eight team in baseball with a 175-196 record, and in a weak American League this season they still profile as one of the league’s worst teams.
At 58-63, they’re not in a position to coast into anything. They need multiple real streaks just to keep their postseason hopes alive.
The problem is that this group simply hasn’t shown the ability to string wins together. Entering play Wednesday, MLB had seen 114 instances of a team winning at least four straight games this season.
Baltimore has accounted for one of them. That run came around the All-Star break and included the Royals’ visit to Baltimore.
Beyond that, the Orioles have not been the kind of team that can sweep series with any regularity, much less sustain a true heater.
That matters now more than ever. They’re in the middle of a punishing 10-game road trip, and the road has been a bad place for them all year.
Baltimore is 26-33 away from home, and the current trip is only part of a brutal closing gauntlet. After Tampa, they have the Yankees and Rays back at Camden Yards, then another nine-game West Coast swing that runs from St.
Louis to Sacramento to Colorado. Boston and Cleveland, both carrying elite pitching, also come to Baltimore after that.
The next stop is Tampa, where the Orioles open a four-game series against a Rays team that has owned them under Mike Elias and is running away with the American League pennant. By the time Baltimore gets back home, the picture could look even uglier.
Part of the issue is that this team doesn’t create momentum easily. Too often it plays flat until the late innings, leans too hard on home runs to score, and offers little elsewhere. The Orioles also rank tied for the fewest one-run wins in MLB at 10-18, which only makes those brief surges feel even more fragile.
The rotation, which over early June through July had been one of the top 10 in baseball, now looks more vulnerable as the innings pile up. Kyle Bradish, who hadn’t thrown even 40 innings in either of the previous two seasons, is already at 127 innings and has never reached 170 in a year. He’s been wobbly lately, which isn’t shocking in his first full season back from Tommy John, and the club needs to be careful with him.
Trevor Rogers has his own warning signs. He’s had major swings in performance, this is the first full season of his career spent entirely in MLB without even a rehab start, and after pushing his velocity this summer he appears to be running out of gas.
His contract situation has also been hanging over things, and he has sounded needy talking about it. The fact that he didn’t want to be on a real contender says plenty about why he should have been traded.
Shane Baz had a 15-game stretch with a 2.94 ERA even though he got no run support, but expecting that kind of run to hold up while this team limps along down the stretch feels unrealistic.
Brandon Young has been a major success story, but he’s also already thrown more innings than ever before in his life. And then there’s Chris Bassitt, whom Elias signed in the first place and now seems determined to keep forcing into the mix after a lengthy IL stint, even though he’s 36 and broken down.
There is one bright note, at least from a certain angle: Dean Kremer looks like Cy Young since they shipped him to Minnesota for an 18-year-old.
In Other News...
Former Orioles Catcher Is On The Move Again After Latest Roster Shift
Alex Jacksons latest stop in Minnesota has already run its course. The Twins brought him up while Ryan Jeffers was sidelined, and he ended up getting into 29 games this season before the roster squeeze tightened again once Jeffers was back in the mix.
For Orioles fans, the familiar name adds another layer to a player who spent last year in Baltimore before moving on. Minnesota is set to roll with Jeffers and Victor Caratini behind the plate, and Jackson is once again left waiting to see what comes next after another quick shift on the catching carousel. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Fans Have A New Prospect To Dream On
MLB Pipelines latest refresh gave Orioles fans another name to circle, with 18-year-old outfielder Eric Booth Jr. moving to the top of Baltimores farm system. The first-round pick from the 2026 draft is already being touted as the organizations No. 1 prospect and No. 40 overall in baseball, a quick rise that adds another layer to a system that continues to churn out high-end talent.
Booth has barely started his professional journey, but his early debut with Single-A Delmarva offered a promising first glimpse, with hits in his first two games. He now joins a group of four Orioles prospects in MLB Pipelines Top 100, alongside Anthony Eyanson, Joseph Dzierwa and Caden Hunter, giving the organization plenty of long-term intrigue even as the next step for its newest headliner is still just beginning to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Fans Get An Early Look At A Key Return From The Trade
Kyson Witherspoon is already giving Orioles fans an early look at one of the key pieces coming back in the Adley Rutschman and Jake Rogers trade, and the first stop has been High-A Frederick. The right-hander, taken 15th overall by Boston in the 2025 draft before landing in Baltimore as part of the deal, has begun his work in the Orioles system while getting used to a new organization and a new set of voices around him.
For now, the emphasis is less on tweaking Witherspoon and more on making sure he settles in. Orioles pitching coach Jordie Henry is focused on helping the young starter acclimate before the club thinks about making any immediate changes to his pitch mix or routine, which gives Baltimore a chance to watch how quickly the new arrival adapts as he starts to carve out his place in the system. [Read more 🡒]