The Orioles are done chasing October. Their postseason fate was sealed Thursday when the White Sox beat Kansas City, 9-1, and punched their own ticket, leaving Baltimore out of the 2026 playoff field with three games still left on the calendar.
That doesn’t mean this weekend in New York is empty. The O’s head into a three-game set against the Yankees with a few real things still worth tracking, starting with whether they can squeeze out a .500 finish.
Baltimore can’t post a winning record, but it can still reach .500 - and only a sweep at Yankee Stadium would get it there. That would be no small task, either.
The Orioles haven’t swept a three-game-or-longer series in the Bronx since June 6-8, 1986. Even so, the club is already assured of finishing better than 2025’s 75-87 mark, and it hasn’t ended a season exactly at .500 since going 81-81 in 2015.
First baseman Pete Alonso made the goal sound simple enough: “Regardless of what the record is, I just want to play good baseball, good quality baseball, and whatever we have left in the tank, just empty the tank. Because after 162, that's it, you’ve got to wait until spring,” first baseman Pete Alonso said.
“Hopefully, we win all three, because that's the goal. We want to win every game that we play, regardless of the standings.”
Alonso gives the Orioles another late-season storyline all by himself. In his first year with Baltimore, he’s up to a team-leading 41 home runs through 159 games, and he should be in the lineup for all three games at Yankee Stadium. He hasn’t missed a game since the 2023 season, and his power surge has been loud enough to put him in some serious franchise company.
The Orioles’ 41-plus-homer list since 1954 is a short one: Chris Davis with 53 in 2013, Brady Anderson with 50 in 1996, Frank Robinson with 49 in 1966, Davis and Mark Trumbo tied at 47, Jim Gentile with 46, Anthony Santander with 44 in 2024, Rafael Palmeiro with 43 in 1998, and now Alonso with 41 in 2026. With six homers in his last eight games - including three in the sweep of Toronto earlier this week - he has a real shot to climb a little higher before the season ends.
There’s also a piece of history hanging over his RBI total. Alonso leads the AL with 110 RBIs this year after leading the NL with 131 in 2022, and no player has ever finished multiple seasons as the RBI leader in both leagues since RBIs became official in 1920.
The final weekend also gives Baltimore another look at Félix Bautista, whose return earlier this week carried real weight after more than a year away because of right shoulder surgery. The 31-year-old former All-Star closer had already gone through a major recovery stretch before, missing all of 2024 after Tommy John surgery.
Bautista has made two appearances since rejoining the bullpen, allowing one run in two-thirds of an inning against the Brewers on Sunday and then two runs in one inning against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. The numbers matter less than the fact that he’s back on a mound in a big league game before the offseason begins, with a chance to keep building toward 2027.
“I stayed firm the entire time, focused on the hard work,” Bautista recently said via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “I knew that it was just as long of a road [as Tommy John], and it took a lot of time. But my entire focus the entire time was just on the work itself.”
Trevor Rogers could also be making what might be his final start of the year for Baltimore. The 2025 Most Valuable Oriole has been one of the club’s steadier arms over the past two seasons, finishing with a 4.07 ERA in 29 starts. He had some early-season trouble, but since June 4 he’s posted a 2.92 ERA across 19 starts.
In Other News...
Orioles May Have Their Future Shortstop If One Question Holds Up
Wehiwa Aloy has moved quickly enough to make the Orioles think seriously about what comes next at shortstop. After being taken 31st overall in the 2025 draft, he put together a strong 2026 across High-A and Double-A, posting a .288/.358/.506 line with 25 home runs and earning the Brooks Robinson Minor League Player of the Year award in the organization. For a club that always seems to be balancing the present with the pipeline, that kind of production is the sort that gets attention.
The question now is less about whether Aloy can drive the ball than whether the rest of his game holds up well enough to keep him on a shortstop path. Strikeouts remain part of the evaluation, even as scouting reports point to a player who projects as at least an average defender at the position. If that defensive baseline proves real, the Orioles may have something more than a power-hitting prospect - they may have a long-term answer at one of the games most important spots. [Read more 🡒]
Pete Alonso Just Gave Orioles Fans A Reason To Twist The Knife
Pete Alonso is settling in with Baltimore in a way that would have been hard to imagine not long ago, and hes not shy about saying it. After the Mets decided not to bring him back, the franchises all-time home run leader signed a five-year deal with the Orioles and has been productive for his new club, even as the season has gone sideways for both teams.
Alonso recently said he believes he was always meant to be an Oriole, and he made a point of thanking Baltimore fans for sticking with him through a difficult year. For Orioles supporters, its the kind of comment that feels both flattering and just a little sharp, especially with the sting of missing the postseason still fresh and the sight of Alonso doing well in orange and black now impossible to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Could Be Headed For A Painful Offseason Shakeup
The Orioles are already staring at a winter built around tough calls, with the roster carrying several players whose situations could quickly force the front offices hand. Pending free agents and arbitration-eligible pieces have put the club in a familiar spot for a team trying to balance immediate competitiveness with longer-term flexibility, and the names floating through that conversation underscore how much can change in a single offseason.
Chris Bassitt, Andrew Kittredge, Leody Taveras and Zach Eflin are all among the players viewed as likely to be on the move after the 2026 season, depending on performance, contract status and where Baltimore sees itself going next. None of that is a final verdict from the organization, of course, but it does frame the kind of shakeup that can catch a contender in between eras if the results and the spending dont line up just right. [Read more 🡒]