Power Ranking the Orioles top 10 most painful losses of the 2026 season so far

The Baltimore Orioles are having their second consecutive disappointing season. However, this year's brand of disappointment is very different from last year's brand of disappointment. What characterized the Orioles' 2025 season was how abjectly terrible they were for the first two months of the season. You blinked, and they were 17 games under .500 halfway through May. In many of those losses, the Orioles' pitchers either got blasted out of the game or the Orioles offense was shut down or held hitless for most of the night. This year's version of disappointing is how close the Orioles are to getting into the playoff picture and how close they've been to winning a lot of tight games, only to lose them in the most painful and embarrassing way imaginable.

There have been so many losses this year that leave fans feeling devastated and determined not to believe in this team anymore, only for the Orioles to win three games in a row and pull themselves back within a game of the playoffs, just to lose in gut-wrenching fashion once again and fall back towards the bottom of the standings.

There have been so many brutal losses this year that it can be easy to forget some of them and let them fall through the cracks. So here are the Orioles top 10 most painful losses from least painful to most painful.

10. May 4th: Yankees 12 - Orioles 1

This game is different from the rest of the games on this list because what made this loss so painful was that this was the culmination of four straight blowout losses to the New York Yankees. The Orioles came into this series against the Yankees just one game under .500, and that's the closest they've been to .500 since because they still have not recovered from the beatdown the Yankees laid on them.

9. April 15th: Diamondbacks 8 - Orioles 5

This was a back-and-forth game, but the Orioles had gotten to the Diamondbacks' bullpen already in the series, and it felt like the longer the game went on, the more likely the Orioles would win, especially once the game entered extra innings with the Orioles at home. Instead, Tyler Wells gave up a two-run bomb to Adrian Del Castillo and then allowed another run to come across for good measure. Suddenly, the Orioles were down three in extras, and they went out sad, unable to even push the ghost runner across in the bottom of the 10th.

8. April 25th: Red Sox 17 - Orioles 1

This one's pretty self-explanatory, as it's the worst blowout of the Orioles season so far. What made it even more painful was that the Orioles won the first game of this series 10-3, and it felt like they were about to go on a run, only to get blasted by the Red Sox, who fired their manager that same night.

7. April 21st: Royals 6 - Orioles 5

This one was tough because the Orioles got to the bottom of the 8th with a lead, and Rico Garcia gave up his first hit of the season, which was a game-tying home run. Then Helsley came in for the ninth and just threw the game away. He walked the first two batters and then threw back-to-back wild pitches to allow the Royals to walk it off. Unbelievable.

6. June 9th: Mariners 6 - Orioles 5

This loss was defined by brutal hitting with runners in scoring position. In both the 9th and 10th innings, the Orioles had either the game-tying or game-winning run at third with less than two outs, and in both cases, they couldn't get the key run across. They fought so hard to tie the game up, and when it was easily within their reach, they fumbled it.

5. April 4th: Pirates 3 - Orioles 2

This was the first walkoff the Orioles gave up this year, but it wouldn't be their last. This game was characterized by sloppy defense from the pitching position as both Shane Baz and Anthony Nunez committed errors that led to the Pirates' first three runs. Then in the ninth, Helsley tried to challenge a missed call that would have been strike three, but the Orioles were out of challenges, and the Pirates then proceeded to walk it off.

4. June 7th: Blue Jays 6 - Orioles 4

This was the infamous Ernie Clement leaves the basepaths like a gentleman game. What should have been an inning-ending double play turned into a five-run rally that swung the game. This was frustrating in the moment as it felt like the Orioles got screwed, and then got more frustrating later when the league admitted the umpires got it wrong, but at that point, it's too late. Hard to stomach.

3. May 7th: Marlins 4 - Orioles 3

This was just a hard play to watch as Coby Mayo, who should never be on the field in the ninth inning, misplayed a routine grounder that should have been out number three to send the game to extras, and then, after bobbling the ball, he picked it up and panic threw it up the first base line, which allowed the game winning run to score from second. One of the single worst plays you'll ever see, and it was utterly avoidable if the Orioles were a serious team.

2. June 19th: Dodgers 6 - Orioles 5

This loss was a comedy of errors in the ninth inning. Helsley was wild all inning; the Orioles had multiple chances to take him out, but they didn't. Tyler O'Neill should have known better than to try to throw home, but he did it anyway. Basallo needed to catch that ball, and he didn't. A mess from start to finish that turned what should have been one of the Orioles best wins of the season into a deeply embarrassing loss.

1. June 25th:  Angels 7 - Orioles 6

This was a game where the Orioles did so much right, only to do even more wrong. They chased the Angels starter from the game after three innings and then didn't score again until the 10th. Their rookie starter was pitching well, and they pulled him after four innings at 66 pitches. In the 10th inning, by some miracle, Keegan Akin gets what should be the game-sealing ground ball, and then he and Alonso fail to cover first, and instead it results in the game-tying run scoring and the batter ending up at third, where they went on to get walked off on a check swing bunt. This was a game they had basically won multiple times, and they found a way to lose. In many ways, it was a metaphor for the whole season.

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