The Orioles have failed their way to a place where there’s no coming back, at least not this season.
Hello, friends.
The 2025 Orioles season is essentially over. There’s no point in trying to act differently any more. Attempts to rationalize that something else might have been occurring during the few positive lulls over the last six weeks were nothing other than the denial stage of grief. There will be no recovering from this disaster, not while this season plays out. It’s done. Yesterday’s losses, with the first game where they had four hits and the second game where Yennier Cano blew it, pretty much seal the deal.
No surprise for anyone who did not want to admit that any sooner. Recognizing that the season is done is a grim thing to have to do. The Orioles have wasted one of the precious few seasons of the young core – particularly the Adley Rutschman/Gunnar Henderson duo – that they’ve assembled all being together. It’s so thoroughly wasted that “Adley Rutschman is eventually going to leave as a free agent” isn’t even as sad a statement as it once was.
What’s more, the awareness that this season is finished means that we are marching towards some form of dismantling of the team in July. Players who will be free agents at the end of this season will be likely to be trade candidates. Unless you hate everyone on the team, someone who you like is going to be dealt.
There is essentially no choice but to trade guys like Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn for whatever they’re worth. This could prove true for starting pitchers like Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano as well, something that might usher in an absolutely pathetic starting rotation by season’s end. They might even dump underperforming relievers such as Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto, if there is any other GM out there whose “I can fix him!” instinct leads him down some of the same dumb road that Mike Elias traveled last Jiuly.
The only real question is whether the seemingly-inevitable sell-off will touch on players who aren’t free agents after this season. Could post-2026 free agents get moved too? If Ryan Mountcastle stops stinking for long enough to convince a team of his value, he’d be a prime candidate to be moved in a slightly expanded sell-off. Continually cromulent bench bat Ramón Urías is another candidate. Even Keegan Akin belongs to this group, if you can imagine anyone wanting Keegan Akin.
I’m sad that it’s come to this. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. There is too much that’s going wrong to possibly think it can be fixed enough to recover this season. Elias made a string of poor roster decisions over the offseason. The starting rotation is his mess. So is a bullpen to which he only added Andrew Kittredge. I still don’t know what to say about the lineup. I think the fact that Elias’s deep tanking philosophy built a team that cracked after only two full seasons of contention reflects very poorly on him and on the project he insisted was necessary.
There are a lot of people out there who want to see people get fired – the manager, the several hitting coaches, anybody – and as the Orioles sit 11 games below .500 in mid-May, on pace to lose 102 games, there’s no counter to that argument. I’ve said this before now and I’ll say it again: I don’t know that any one of these coaches is the problem, but they sure aren’t the solution, and I don’t think they ought to be a part of trying to reconstitute a better Orioles team in the future.
Anyway, the Orioles are going to try one more time to do something other than lose in some manner of embarrassing fashion to the Twins at 12:35 Eastern time this afternoon. Sugano is set to pitch for the O’s, with Chris Paddack starting for the Twins.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
The simulation says the Orioles should be good (404 Media)
If you need a longer read than what I said above to achieve some catharsis about the struggles of the 2025 Orioles, this guy has you covered.
Westburg has setback in hamstring injury recovery, timetable now uncertain (Orioles.com)
Lost a bit from before yesterday’s disastrous doubleheader was the news that Jordan Westburg’s been shut down from his baseball activities, so it’ll be a while longer before we see him.
Unlike their namesake team, Baltimore orioles are soaring in Cromwell Valley (The Baltimore Banner)
This website will not be following the Orioles fan subreddit into increasingly ignoring the baseball team the Baltimore Orioles. But I might join the bit every now and again when a ready, current link presents itself.
Orioles prospect Levi Wells credits breakout to Nathan Eovaldi (The Baltimore Sun)
If your response to the headline is, “Who?” then you’re probably not a sicko. If your response is to wonder whether it counts as a breakout if a guy has a 3.08 ERA through six games in Double-A, when he’s striking out fewer than one batter per inning, then you might be a sicko.
Spirit of ‘66: Eddie Watt’s strong arm couldn’t save him from one unfortunate pitch (Baltimore Baseball)
The ongoing Orioles history series at Baltimore Baseball focuses on one of the pitchers who was a two-time champion with the O’s.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
The Orioles were last victorious on this day one year ago. They walked off the Blue Jays on Adley Rutschman’s two-run home run to win it, 3-2. After the win, the O’s had a 27-14 record. This year’s Orioles, uh, they’re not as good.
There are a couple of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2009 catcher Guillermo Rodríguez, and 2002-06 pitcher Eric DuBose.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: 19th century Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich (1773), Wizard of Oz creator L. Frank Baum (1856), coincidental JFK assassination filmer Abraham Zapruder (1905), baseball Hall of Famers George Brett (1953) and John Smoltz (1967), Baltimore Ravens legend Ray Lewis (1975), and tennis player Andy Murray (1987).
On this day in history…
In 1536, deposed queen of England Anne Boleyn stood trial for treason, adultery, and incest. She was found guilty and executed two days later.
In 1891, then-pope Leo XIII issued an encyclical called Rerum novarum, in which he defended workers rights and property rights.
In 1905, the city of Las Vegas was founded. No word on whether things that happened there before the founding stayed there.
In 1940, the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on May 15. Have a safe Thursday.