Even the most hopeful corners of Birdland have to be staring reality in the face now. The Orioles’ 5-0 loss to the Red Sox last night pushed them deeper into a September slide that already looks ugly enough to bury the season.
They needed this month to be their runway back into the wild card race. Instead, they’ve opened September as the only winless team in MLB and have now been shut out in back-to-back games by Boston.
There’s a strange kind of black humor to the way this has unfolded. The Orioles took on $5 million in late-season salary in the waiver claim of Luis Robert Jr., hoping his recent strong stretch would carry over and give the lineup a jolt. The result has been the opposite: the offense has vanished.
The numbers are doing the talking, and they’re not saying anything good. Through five games in September 2026, the Orioles are hitting .207/.274/.308, which is the third-worst OPS in baseball this month. The rotation has not turned into the full-blown problem the lineup has become, but it also hasn’t been good enough to cover for an offense that is, for all practical purposes, doing nothing.
Last night was a perfect example. Chris Bassitt worked into the sixth inning, got into trouble, and convinced manager Craig Albernaz to let him face one more batter.
That decision ended with a bad-luck broken bat single that brought in two runs. Rico Garcia then allowed the inherited runner to score.
Bassitt finished with 3 ER in 5.2 IP, a line that undersells how much better he probably deserved. With the bats silent, he needed to be nearly flawless.
He wasn’t, and the game got away.
That kind of trust has become part of the Albernaz profile. He believes in his players.
He tends to call them “the boys.” He expects them to come through.
The issue is how often they don’t. That’s a lot easier to defend when the faith is in someone like Kyle Bradish than when it’s in Carlos Narváez or Anthony Nunez.
If Mike Elias had handed him a stronger roster, it might look like a virtue instead of a gamble.
At this point, the only thing left to watch for is whether a few core players show any sign of life before the year runs out. That feels like a stretch.
After 143 games of this, the sense here is that the Orioles still don’t fully know what’s gone wrong or how to fix it, whether you’re looking at individual players or the team as a whole. The front office appears locked into a path that has already failed, and if this is being passed to the next wave, it’s fair to wonder whether the lessons have actually been learned.
The standings are a lost cause unless the Orioles suddenly rip off something like a six-game winning streak starting today, so there’s not much point in pretending otherwise. They’ll try to avoid being swept by Boston in the finale of the four-game weekend set at 1:35, with Payton Tolle and Kyle Bradish listed as the scheduled starters.
Around the team, there’s still other Orioles news worth noting. Tyler O’Neill does not sound likely to return this season, and Albernaz said he’s excited to get Heston Kjerstad’s bat into the lineup.
There’s also a look at Luis De León, the first Orioles international arm under Elias to reach Baltimore, though his early outings haven’t drawn much praise. And prospect Jaiden Lo Re is in the middle of a “surreal” breakout debut season, following a similar path to Nate George a year ago.
Today also brings a stack of Orioles anniversaries. In 1974, the club swept a doubleheader from the then-Indians behind complete-game shutouts from Dave McNally and Mike Cuellar, extending the team’s streak to five straight shutouts and setting an American League record.
In 1995, Cal played 2131, and the Orioles beat the then-California Angels 4-2. In 1996, Eddie Murray reached the 500-homer club, becoming the 15th player to get there and only the third with both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.
The team is honoring that 30th anniversary today. In 2012, the Orioles beat the Yankees on Cal’s statue night honoring 2131, a 10-6 win that remains, in the writer’s words, the greatest game ever seen at Camden Yards.
And one year ago today, the Orioles were being no-hit by Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers with two outs in the ninth and trailing 3-0 before Emmanuel Rivera later delivered the walkoff single off former Oriole Tanner Scott.
A few former Orioles were born on this date: Shawn Dubin, Donnie Hart, Derrek Lee, Roy Smith, and Jim Fridley. And if today happens to be your birthday, happy birthday to you - your birthday buddies include Marquis de Lafayette, Roger Waters, Alice Seabold, and Idris Elba.
On this day in history, President William McKinley was shot and fatally wounded in 1901. He died eight days later of an infection that spread from the gunshot.
In Other News...
Unexpected Celebrity Spotted At Camden Yards During Orioles Game
Ken Jennings made an unexpected stop at Camden Yards during the Orioles' recent game, turning a routine night at the ballpark into a small pop-culture detour. The Jeopardy! host was there with his son as part of a family project to visit all 30 major league stadiums, and for Baltimore fans it offered a reminder that the charm of Orioles baseball extends well beyond the home dugout.
Jennings, a Mariners fan, also looked back on previous trips to Camden Yards and talked about how his own Jeopardy! run still shapes the way he thinks about pressure and preparation. He noted how hard it is to become a Jeopardy! contestant in the first place, and even drew a parallel between that experience and stepping into a major league game, which makes his visit feel less like a celebrity sighting and more like the kind of baseball memory that sticks. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Fifth-Round Pick Is Rising Faster Than Anyone Expected
Jaiden Lo Re has spent his first professional season moving quicker than most fifth-round picks do, climbing from the Florida Complex League all the way to High-A Frederick. The 2025 draftee has backed up the rise with production, batting .323 across 86 games while showing the kind of controlled approach the Orioles tend to value in their system.
His profile has only gotten more interesting as the season has gone on. Lo Re ranks No. 19 on Baltimores Top 30 Prospects list, has a 53/34 walk-to-strikeout ratio, and has kept his swinging-strike rate low while bouncing around multiple positions. He has also added 26 stolen bases, giving the Orioles a versatile young player whose development has already outpaced expectations. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Still Have An O'Neill Problem As Outfield Chance Opens Up
Tyler ONeills Orioles season has essentially been put on pause, with the outfielder on the 10-day injured list because of right shoulder inflammation and now eligible to return, even if he is not expected to get back into a game before the schedule runs out. Craig Albernaz offered an update on ONeills status while Baltimore lined up a fresh look in the outfield, and the timing matters with the club trying to sort out who can still help in the final stretch.
Heston Kjerstad, just recalled from Triple-A Norfolk, is getting the start in right field against the Red Sox, giving Baltimore another chance to evaluate a player who has been waiting for this kind of opportunity. The days lineups also underscored how much the Orioles are still shuffling things around, and ONeills absence leaves one more question hanging over an outfield that never really settled the way the club hoped. [Read more 🡒]