After getting swept in Minnesota, the Baltimore Orioles have lost their last 5 games and are 10 games under .500 at 13-23 overall.
The O’s are:
7.5GB in the AL East.
6GB of the 3rd Wild Card.
The opposition has outscored the Birds by a nearly unfathomable 69 runs!
Entering today, the O’s were:
23rd in Runs Scored
26th in Batting Average
27th in On-Base %
17th in Slugging %
And the O’s had the 2nd worst overall ERA at 5.50.
The Remaining May Schedule:
3 at LAA
3 vs. Minnesota
3 vs. Washington
3 at Milwaukee
4 at Boston
3 vs St. Louis
2 vs. CWS
They’d have to go 16-5 in those 21 games to be 29-28 entering June.
They have a .361 winning percentage currently.
If that was maintained over these next 21 games, they’d be 21-36 entering June.
If this is what they are on June 1st, then there will be nothing to pay attention to other than the draft, and what younger players perform over the remainder of the year.
If you are 10-15 under .500 on June 1st, it’s time to sell anything not nailed down for whatever you can get, with a full focus to ’26.
So, has the rebuild failed?
Will the Birds have to blow things up and completely start over?
I don’t think so.
This ’25 team might be a failure, and they sure look like one currently.
That doesn’t change my opinion of what this core (Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Colton Cowser, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez) can achieve.
Brandon Hyde will be gone.
They’ll have to find rotation help.
Can they extend Cedric Mullins for a year or two? Do they want to?
They’ll have to make calls on Heston Kjerstad, Coby Mayo, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Tyler O’Neill.
Samuel Basallo will be up when?
How does his projected usage impact the names above?
Does Rutschman return to ’22-’23 levels over the rest of ’25, or is he more of ’24 and what we’ve seen so far this season?
Do Rodriguez and Bradish get back and stay healthy and productive?
There’s plenty of talent here.
Enough to win regularly for years.
Call this year a failure.
Right now it’s as disappointing a team as the O’s have had since probably 1998.
Place the blame at the feet of Mike Elias.
But no reason in my opinion to believe they’ll have to completely start over.
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.