The Orioles’ 2026 season has gone sideways in a hurry, and the latest four-game losing streak has only made the picture uglier. What had been a shaky chase for the third Wild Card spot has slipped further away, with an above-.500 team now holding WC3 and Baltimore sitting five games back.
That doesn’t mean every player has been part of the problem. A few Orioles have turned in solid work in the middle of a rough year, and if the club had picked up about three more wins, those performances would look a lot more like the glue keeping things together.
That’s the backdrop for this week’s question: who gets your vote for Most Valuable Oriole so far?
At the end of the season, mainstream media covering the team is asked to pick the Most Valuable Oriole, and last year’s winner was Trevor Rogers. A repeat looks unlikely now, so the discussion shifts to who has done the most for Baltimore through this point.
By Baseball Reference WAR, Pete Alonso stands out as the top choice. He’s mostly delivered what the Orioles brought him in to do, even if the start was slow, and he leads the team with 19 homers.
Brandon Young also has a real case. His unexpected rise into a pretty good pitcher may have been one of the biggest reasons the Orioles stayed afloat before the last few days. Baltimore is 10-3 when he starts, compared with 29-45 when anyone else takes the mound.
In Other News...
Orioles Already Flipped Kyle Nicolas Again For Something Else
The Orioles latest move with reliever Kyle Nicolas turned into a quick roster shuffle elsewhere, as Washington immediately sent him to Triple-A Rochester and created room on its 40-man by shifting Mitchell Parker to the 60-day injured list. For Baltimore, it was another reminder of how fluid the back end of the roster can be this time of year, when a player can be acquired, rerouted and absorbed into someone elses depth chart almost before the ink is dry.
There was also a small bit of transaction history tucked into the deal, since it marked the first trade between the Orioles and Nationals since the Washington franchise arrived from Montreal in 2005. Those kinds of cross-Beltway moves are rare enough to stand out, even when the names involved are more about organizational churn than big-league headlines. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Catching Depth Just Took Another Unsettling Turn
Baltimores catching picture took another small but unsettling hit when the club announced that its recently designated catcher cleared waivers and moved on rather than remain in the organization. It was the latest sign that the Orioles are still sorting out the depth behind the plate, even as the major league picture already leans heavily toward Adley Rutschman with Samuel Basallo and Chadwick Tromp in the mix.
For the player involved, it also closed the door on a brief and bumpy second stint with Baltimore after the club designated him for assignment for a second time since Opening Day. He never found much traction in the majors, and his time at Triple-A Norfolk was uneven enough that the Orioles were left making another hard call, one that now sends both sides in a different direction as the team keeps searching for stability at catcher. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Suddenly Face An Orioles Deadline Rumor Fans Wont Like
With the deadline approaching and Baltimore still hanging around the postseason picture, the Orioles are being mentioned as a club that could try to upgrade rather than step back. The most logical area to attack is the rotation, where the group has been uneven and injuries have left the staff thinner than it needs to be for a push over the final stretch.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tied Baltimore to the kind of frontline starter that can change a contenders October outlook, noting that the Orioles are at least looking at pitchers with enough track record to stabilize things quickly. For a team still close enough to make a move, the appeal is obvious: add one more arm with real staying power, and the deadline suddenly becomes about more than just depth. [Read more 🡒]