Embarrassing to themselves, that is. Not embarrassing their opponents.
Hello, friends.
Most of you are probably familiar with Michael Corleone’s line from The Godfather Part III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” The 2025 Orioles seem to be determined to have everyone act out an entirely different version of that line: Just when you think you’re back in, they push you back out.
So it went again on Wednesday night against the Rangers, with another pathetic effort from the Orioles offense. They ended up on the wrong end of a no-hit bid going into at least the sixth inning for the third time in their past five games. It took until the seventh inning of last night’s game for the Orioles to break up the perfect game bid and into the eighth before they ended the no-hitter.
Pretty much the only mitigating factor of that misery is that at least in Wednesday’s game, they were getting worked over by an unquestionably good pitcher in the form of Jacob deGrom. The former Mets ace had only been healthy enough to pitch in nine games for the Rangers over the first two years of his five-year deal, but here in 2025, the team is finally starting to get what it paid for. After dominating the Orioles last night, deGrom sits at a 2.08 ERA for the season while averaging about six innings per start.
The Orioles are beyond the point where there is much consolation in that fact. They have lost too many other games to give any more away with listless play, even if there’s a good reason for it. Losing their last two series, the O’s are back down to 12 games below .500, and they’re on pace to win just 69 games for the full season. They’re 7.5 games back of a wild card spot with seven teams to pass. It’s not happening. If they were 38-42 instead, that would be a more realistic (though still longshot) hope. That’s just not what they are.
A month and five days remain until this year’s trade deadline is reached. The Orioles could decide to pull the plug and sell off some post-2025 free agents at any time between now and then. That’s just a matter of some team wanting somebody on the O’s enough to meet whatever price Mike Elias is willing to accept for them. I’d be surprised to see this happen before, say, the All-Star break, but it is always possible.
It’s a long time to hang around in limbo to find out how the future direction of the team will be going. The Orioles have 28 games to play between now and then. It would be nice, over that month-plus of play, to see guys who will be expected to be key contributors next year start to get on the right track if they’re not already there.
I would like to see Gunnar Henderson play more like a superstar, as he did a year ago. Consistently good performance from Colton Cowser, Jackson Holliday, and Jordan Westburg will be important also. Once his oblique has healed, seeing the same from Adley Rutschman is crucial. We’re going to be stuck with Tyler O’Neill for 2026, so might as well get some signs of life from him once he gets off the injured list. That should be soon, assuming there are no setbacks this time, with his latest rehab assignment getting him three at-bats for Double-A Chesapeake last night.
As for the pitching staff, if Trevor Rogers wants to keep showing the form he did on Monday against the Rangers, I’d feel better about next year’s rotation. Good feelings about the bullpen center around whether Félix Bautista, Keegan Akin, and Bryan Baker can be a solid back end over a longer period of time.
More fun would be a winning team. That’s not the way this year is going. So we have to transfer our hopes for next year and beyond. Getting no-hit into the back half of a regulation baseball game multiple times per week isn’t going to do much to stoke such hopes.
Let’s close out this section of the article with some good tidings: The Orioles are off today, so you do not have to inflict them upon yourself. Any plans for the off night from baseball? I don’t even get an off night because I’ve got a podcast to record, but I hope to get to watch an episode of season 2 of Andor before the day is out.
Orioles things you might have missed
The 2025 season is O’s-ver (FanGraphs)
FG’s Dan Szymborski is out with his take on why the Orioles season, at least as far as realistic postseason hopes, is kaput. Along with that, he thinks the O’s might have some of the best trade candidates in a weak group that will presumably be available at the deadline.
Ryan O’Hearn would like a shot at the Home Run Derby, even if it’s a longshot (The Baltimore Banner)
One certainly wouldn’t have predicted this before the season began, but it would be fun if O’Hearn found his way into the Derby somehow.
How Orioles players, fans, and umpires are handling the record heat (The Baltimore Sun)
Luckily for everyone involved, there weren’t any day games scheduled during this heat wave. It’s been mighty hot at game time all the same and that necessitates extra precautions for everybody.
Pride and (no) prejudice: Orioles celebrate annual Pride Night at Camden Yards (The Baltimore Banner)
I’ve been to some Pride Nights at the stadium in recent years and it’s always a good atmosphere. Real shame they didn’t play a better game for the folks who were there this time around. Hopefully it was a worthwhile experience for those who showed up all the same.
Orioles prospect Austin Overn finding success in minors thanks to athletic past (Orioles.com)
It’s been a rough go for most of the high Orioles draft picks from last year. Overn is doing better than some of the others, for which he credits the athleticism that he built up playing three different sports in high school.
The Shorebirds will forever miss Luis Guevara, yet he’ll never leave them (The Baltimore Banner)
Guevara, the young Orioles minor leaguer who died last week after a jet ski accident, touched the lives of many of the teammates he played along side.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1970, Frank Robinson hit two grand slams in a 12-2 win over the Senators. This was just the seventh time in MLB history that a player had two grand slams in the same game.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2022-23 pitcher Austin Voth, 2007-08 infielder Luis Hernández, 1987 pitcher Mike Griffin, and 1960 one-game outfielder Gene Green.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Union general and baseball enthusiast Abner Doubleday (1819), Marine general Chesty Puller (1898), baseball Hall of Famer Willard Brown, no known relation to this writer (1915), cyclist Greg LeMond (1961), actor Chris O’Donnell (1970), actress Aubrey Plaza (1984), and singer-songwriter Ariana Grande (1993).
On this day in history…
In 1794, while fighting a coalition of Austrian and Dutch forces, the French Revolutionary Army deployed an observational balloon in helping its way to victory in the Battle of Fleurus. It’s recognized as the first use of any airborne manpower in a war.
In 1917, in what we now know as World War I, the first American Expeditionary Forces reached French shores, with their first combat coming about a week later.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech in Berlin in which he proclaimed, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” saying that was one of the greatest boasts people of the time could make.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 26. Have a safe Thursday.