The Orioles’ 2026 push died hard, but it didn’t die quietly.
Baltimore spent months clawing out of an early hole, then finally gave itself a real shot at the postseason after a dramatic walk-off win over the Colorado Rockies on August 31. That victory left the Orioles at 69-69, just half a game behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third Wild Card spot. For a team that had been knocked around by injuries and a fire sale at the trade deadline, even getting to that point felt like progress.
Then September happened.
The Orioles went 9-12 in their first 21 games of the month and missed their chance to turn a late surge into a playoff berth. They were eliminated in the final week of the season, which says plenty about how long they stayed alive - and how painful the finish still was.
When a team fades like that, the spotlight naturally falls on the players who either carried the load or let the moment slip away. Baltimore had both.
Pete Alonso was the clearest bright spot in the final stretch. By the end of the season, there wasn’t much he could do to lose the fanbase, and he only deepened that connection in September.
The power was loud - nine home runs and 19 RBI in 21 games - and so was the production, with a .951 OPS that helped keep Baltimore hanging around. Alonso followed his best month of the season with another strong run, and he finished as the kind of bat the Orioles could build around.
Anthony Nunez also deserves a place on the good side of the ledger. The rookie right-hander gave Baltimore meaningful innings when the pressure was at its highest.
His only blemish in September came against the Toronto Blue Jays on September 12, when he allowed a single run. Outside of that, he was sharp, posting a 0.346 WHIP over 8.2 innings.
For a rookie pitcher, that’s a solid debut in a tense spot, and it gave the Orioles something real to feel good about going forward.
The other side of the story is tougher.
Gunnar Henderson, the face of the franchise and Baltimore’s best player over the last several seasons, never found his usual level in 2026. September could have been the stage for a rescue act, but his .236/.337/.389 slash line over 20 games reflected the same regression that defined much of his year.
He had a chance to deliver a statement finish and help drag the Orioles into October. Instead, his struggles became part of the reason the season slipped away.
He did flash signs of breaking out of the funk in August, but it wasn’t enough to change the overall picture.
Brandon Young, meanwhile, was one of the season’s pleasant surprises until the very end. He put together a career year and became an unsung stabilizer for the pitching staff, even if nobody expected him to be the club’s most reliable arm.
But his September finish was rough. Over four starts in the month, he posted a 5.06 ERA, and the Orioles went just 1-3 in those games.
He allowed 12 walks and 20 hits in only 21.1 innings, and the late-season wobble undercut what had been a valuable season-long run.
That’s the shape of Baltimore’s year in a nutshell: a team that kept finding ways to survive, then ran out of answers when the margin got tight. Alonso and Nunez helped extend the chase. Henderson and Young were among the players who couldn’t quite finish it.
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What makes the decision especially delicate is that the Orioles still have to figure out how best to use him if they want to get the most out of his bat without putting his body in the same spot again. His major league offense has not yet matched expectations, and Baltimore is expected to look at other catching options this winter, leaving Basallos role very much in play as the club weighs whether he can still be a catcher or needs a different path. [Read more 🡒]
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Trey Gibson Just Put The Orioles On Notice For 2027
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Gibsons 2026 season was not a straight line, with a rough June and a return trip to Triple-A Norfolk before he settled in and began showing better control and more swing-and-miss stuff late in the year. The Orioles do not need to crown him based on one start, but the ingredients are there for cautious optimism, and his September work gave the organization a reminder that he could still factor into the rotation picture down the road. [Read more 🡒]