The Orioles finished off a three-game sweep of the Mets on Wednesday with a 7-1 win, and Pete Alonso was right in the middle of the strange little series that followed him from New York to Baltimore.
Alonso homered again last night, and Mets fans were happy to see it. Given the way their season has gone, it didn’t hurt them much. What made the series feel so unusual was the reception around Alonso after the trade, with opposing fans showing him plenty of affection in a way that doesn’t happen often.
Baltimore, meanwhile, kept doing the thing it has done a few times this year: just when everyone has written the Orioles off, they start looking like a real baseball team again. It may already be too late for that to change the big picture, unless they basically run the table from here. But as long as there’s a chance, the Orioles can keep hanging on.
They got a little help on Wednesday, too. Cleveland and Chicago flipped in the AL Central, which matters because the Orioles hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the White Sox, though not over the Guardians. So if Baltimore somehow catches the current wild card 3 team, that edge would matter in a tie.
The road is still steep. The Rangers and Blue Jays are still ahead of the Orioles in the chase, and Baltimore probably needs to run the table to have any real shot.
Maybe one loss can be absorbed, but the schedule doesn’t make that easy. The final three series are against the Brewers, Jays, and Yankees.
The Rangers are the only one of those teams playing today.
Baltimore also had two notable roster updates yesterday. Infielder Jackson Holliday was placed on the 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation, and with so little season left, he is probably done for the year.
That makes for a frustrating finish to a frustrating season. Holliday did spark some optimism with a .921 OPS in July, but his production has fallen off sharply since then, with a .495 OPS in August and a .520 mark in September.
There’s at least a chance the wrist issue was part of that slide, since players often grind through injuries that should land them on the IL. But that isn’t certain.
Either way, the Orioles have some decisions coming on what Holliday can offer next year and whether that roster spot needs to be upgraded. He finished with a 0.2 bWAR.
Pitcher Kyle Bradish also got a diagnosis yesterday: a sports hernia. Manager Craig Albernaz said the team is exploring the next steps.
Bradish’s season ended with a 4.12 ERA, which works out to an exactly league-average 100 ERA+. That may not be what was hoped for, especially with Tommy John surgery still in the rear view mirror, but there’s always next year.
Today also brings a look back at some Orioles history. On this date in 1970, the Orioles clinched the American League East title even though they lost 2-0 to Washington, because the Yankees were beaten by the Red Sox. Baltimore went on to win the World Series.
In 1999, the Orioles team plane left without Cal Ripken Jr., an episode later cited when GM Frank Wren was fired after the season. That same night, in an 8-3 win over the Twins, Jesse Orosco set the major league record with his 1,072nd pitching appearance.
Orosco eventually finished with 1,252 games, still the record. Kenley Jansen, the active leader, is 19th on the all-time list with 980 appearances.
Two former Orioles were born today: 2025 reliever Kade Strowd and infielder Wayne Krenchicki, who played for Baltimore from 1979-81.
In Other News...
Orioles Suddenly Face A Bigger Injury Concern Than Just Holliday
Jackson Holliday landing on the 10-day injured list was already enough to tighten the Orioles infield picture, especially with the move made retroactive to Tuesday and Jos Barrero brought up from Triple-A Norfolk to give the club another option. Hollidays left wrist inflammation keeps one of Baltimores most important young players on the shelf for now, and it comes at a time when the organization is still trying to keep its depth intact and its development pipeline moving.
The more pressing concern, though, may be the health of the pitching side, where Kyle Bradish has been diagnosed with a sports hernia. Baltimore also has Shane Baz dealing with a swollen elbow, though he is expected to be ready to pitch soon. With the offseason instructional camp for top prospects also part of the Orioles broader calendar, the club suddenly has a few medical storylines to monitor at once, and the Bradish diagnosis adds a different kind of urgency than Hollidays latest setback. [Read more 🡒]
Vance Honeycutt Is Giving The Orioles A Much Needed Reason To Believe
Vance Honeycutts season took a noticeable turn once he got to Chesapeake, where the Orioles outfield prospect started to look more like the player the organization had been waiting to see. After making mechanical adjustments and resetting his approach at the plate, he finished the 2026 season on a much stronger note in Double-A than he had earlier in the year at High-A Frederick, a stretch that gave Baltimore a real reason to keep watching his development closely.
Honeycutt has also been open about the mental side of the grind, talking about the challenges that came with the early struggles and the need to stay grounded through them. He is set to carry that momentum into the Arizona Fall League before turning to the offseason, and for an Orioles system that has been looking for more encouraging signs from its young talent, the next step matters just as much as the finish he already put together. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Collapse Put This Roster Debate Front And Center
Colton Cowsers game-saving catch on Aug. 31 looked like the kind of play that could steady a Baltimore club trying to claw its way back into the American League race. It pushed the Orioles back to .500 for a moment and kept them hanging around the chase for the third wild card spot, with the roster still holding out hope that a late surge could turn a volatile season into a playoff push.
Instead, the bottom fell out. Baltimore dropped six straight, including a four-game sweep by Boston, and the conversation around the club has shifted from standings math to how this roster was managed, especially in the bullpen, and how injuries and uneven recent play helped sink the postseason bid. What once felt like a team trying to survive the stretch now looks like one whose biggest internal debates were exposed by the collapse. [Read more 🡒]