The Orioles broke all the promises they made after last season and now they're even worse

Last season, the Baltimore Orioles’ dreams of contention were snuffed out almost immediately. After just 50 games, the team was a staggering 18 games under .500. At that point, manager Brandon Hyde had already been fired, and most of the Orioles fan base had already mentally checked out on the season. It was very unfortunate that the 2025 season, which started with so much promise and expectation, was over so quickly, but at the very least it spared the fans months of agonizing over whether or not the team was going to go on a run. Mike Elias, over the course of that season and into the offseason, made several media appearances talking about how the Orioles’ record was unacceptable and that the front office was going to do everything in their power to fix it.

As of today, the Orioles have played 93 games, and their record is 42-51. The 2025 Orioles, who at this point last year were considered completely cooked and had already begun the process of selling off their tradeable pieces, had a 43-50 record through 93 games. This year's Orioles team is officially worse than last year's Orioles team.

There is a common denominator between this year's and last year's Orioles teams

It feels impossible that this year's team could be so similar record-wise to last year's team, but it's an undeniable fact. This year's team has the benefit of a much less competitive AL playoff race, so their "games back" total doesn't look as ghastly as what the 2025 Orioles were dealing with, but the record is worse.

How could this happen if, as mentioned above, the Orioles front office was "doing everything in their power" to fix what happened in 2025? The answer is simple: they didn't.

To be fair, they did do some things. Signing Pete Alonso was a bold move; trading four prospects for Shane Baz was aggressive; flipping Grayson Rodriguez for Taylor Ward was decisive; and even taking a chance on a Ryan Helsley bounce-back was a solid gamble. These were all good moves that helped push the Orioles in the right direction, and all of these players have helped the Orioles win games this year.

The issue is that after making those moves, the Orioles completely pulled back on the reins. At the point in the offseason when they had acquired Ward, Alonso, Helsley, and Baz, they still needed a top-of-the-rotation starter and multiple bullpen pieces in order to complete their roster, and from then on out, they did almost nothing of note.

There was a lot they could have done at that point. Both Framber Valdez and Ranger Suarez were still available, and there were bullpen arms lying around all over the place just waiting for someone to offer them a major league deal worth about $5 million. Instead, the Orioles signed Zach Eflin and Chris Bassitt and made no further additions to the bullpen.

When Jordan Westburg went down at the very beginning of spring training, they needed someone to play third base, and instead of going out and getting someone who could actually do that, they tried to jam Coby Mayo into that role, which went horribly. They were fortunate to have traded for Blaze Alexander, but they negated the benefit of that trade by playing Mayo at third much more often than Alexander for the first three months of the season.

If there is one defining flaw for this Orioles front office, it's their unwillingness to commit to the present. They made some aggressive moves and got to the point where, if they wanted to upgrade the team any further, it would have required them to either move significant prospects or commit significant money to do so and commit to a definite contention window. They just weren't willing to do that. In this front office's quest to protect the future, they neglected the present, and now back-to-back seasons of their core's prime contention window have been set on fire.

After last season, the Orioles completely overhauled the coaching staff and much of the roster, and a year later, they are just as bad. It's time to look at the common denominator for both of these teams, and that is the front office. Until the current front office is replaced, it's difficult to imagine the Orioles doing what it takes to turn this team into a contender.

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