Orioles fans won't like what CBS Sports said about Baltimore’s chances to bounce back

Eric Cole

New York Mets v Baltimore Orioles - Game Two / G Fiume/GettyImages

You'll get little to no argument from the Baltimore Orioles' fanbase about the 2025 season being an utter disappointment. Instead of continuing their ascent to becoming true World Series contenders, the Orioles fell on their faces this year and became a cautionary tale about taking success for granted.

Most of the players, especially on the position player side, that carried the Orioles to the postseason in 2024 are still around. Baltimore also has quality talent coming up through the minor leagues. The Orioles' pitching staff, however, looks like it's being held together by Elmer's glue and packing tape. Despite the concerns, remains to be seen as to whether or not Mike Elias is willing to make moves for impact arms during the upcoming offseason.

While not conclusive, a recent panel of experts at CBS Sports were asked which team is most likely to bounce back in 2026 — the Orioles and Atlanta Braves? It wasn't unanimous, but the overwhelming majority of those asked chose the Braves while expressing some reservations about the Orioles' direction.

Experts have real reservations with Orioles' chances of a bounce-back season in 2026

Much of their opinions center on the notion that the Braves' down-year as more a product of injuries than anything else. That's hard to argue with, as the Braves have a lot of resources and have consistently shown a willingness to improve their roster. Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos that has a track record of fielding competitive teams. Assuming they get healthy, Atlanta will be fine.

There was a healthy amount of skepticism, however, surrounding the Orioles' odds. The strength of the AL East was noted by several experts and Mike Axisa (probably correctly) noted that Anthopoulos is far more likely than Elias to be aggressive in addressing his team's needs. The only vote for the Orioles came from Dayn Perry, and that came with the thought that the strength of Baltimore's core is strong, as well as his hopeful optimism that Elias will finally make some moves.

Everyone seems to agree that the Orioles need to make some real moves if they want to get back into contention. The hope after the Corbin Burnes trade was that Elias was finally willing to trade from his impressive prospect depth, but that clearly did not stick. The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that he must change his appraoch this winter in order for Baltimore to get back on track.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.