The 2025 season has not gone well for the Baltimore Orioles. The team failed to live up to expectations, injuries compounded that underperformance, and the team sold off tons of pieces at last month’s trade deadline. All in all, it’s been a frustrating experience.

But to the club’s credit, Mike Elias and the Orioles front office have been clear-eyed about their various issues dating back to May and made reasonable changes. The manager was fired, the roster has been logically turned over, and they used the month of July to beef up on young (tradable) talent. All eyes are now on 2026 (and beyond).

On one hand, this decisive direction is reassuring. It would seem to indicate that the front office has a sense of urgency. Maybe they fully grasp and respect the fleeting nature of professional sports, feeling like the team’s current core is worthy of building around. Or maybe they have been told directly that another sub-par season in 2026 will mean curtains for their time at the helm.

Either way, it should make the upcoming offseason and next summer far more interesting. Maybe with a little more health luck, some savvy roster moves, and further development for the young players, these O’s can be right in the thick of the playoff race once again. It’s all on the table.

That’s all well and good. But it doesn’t help the average Orioles fan in this moment. They still have six weeks left in a baseball season that went completely off the rails. That’s six weeks that should, at the very least, be entertaining and worth watching. They need a reason to flip on MASN now, not next February (for the ~5 spring training games they might broadcast). Not to mention the financial (and mental) cost of “enjoying” an Orioles game. So tell us, Orioles, why should your fans watch these games right now?

That question is meant in jest, at least partially. The reality is that if you read this website regularly, you are probably an Orioles sicko. You’re watching most of the games no matter what. And you can probably find some reason, however thin, to make each game worthy of your time. But that does not change the team’s obligation to put the best possible product on the field in front of you. That doesn’t mean a winner, especially not at this juncture in the season, but they should at the very least be intriguing.

The quality of play on the field certainly isn’t a reason to watch. The Orioles are 3-6 in the month of August, and have been outscored 23-44. That means they are scoring 2.6 runs per game while allowing 4.9 runs per game. All of those numbers are bad!

The offense has particularly fallen apart. Their 45 wRC+ is the worst in the league since August 1, as is their .176/.228/.292 batting line. This team was supposed to be carried by their bats. And sure, they are missing some significant names in their lineup, and they are certainly demoralized following the deadline. But that sort of performance is unacceptable.

Look at the names that the Orioles cycled through their outfield on Sunday. Greg Allen, Jordyn Adams, and Jeremiah Jackson started from left to right. Ryan Noda pinch hit for Jackson and then stayed on to play right field. Dylan Carlson pinch ran at one point and then finished the game in left field. All of these guys are space fillers playing out the string, with the possible exception of Jackson. And yet, they are all that the team has to trot out for the moment.

Of course, there is Dylan Beavers in Triple-A Norfolk. The 24-year-old outfielder has a 1.308 OPS so far in August, and seems fully ready to take on an MLB role. But he won’t be up until the team can be sure he will maintain prospect eligibility in 2026. That should happen sometime in the next week or so. Fingers crossed.

The same is true of Samuel Basallo, although he has some defensive deficiencies that could leave him in Norfolk until September. That’s when rosters slightly expand and make the carrying of three catchers much easier to handle. Credit to the O’s front office for finding Alex Jackson during their catching crisis earlier in the summer. He has been one of the team’s few pleasant surprises.

If/when the top prospects are promoted, those will be games worth watching, as will every game that follows in which they play. But for now, the Orioles make us wait.

You could add Coby Mayo to this category as well. He is no longer a prospect, and has been with the Orioles for a while now, but regular playing time is new for him. July was his best month as an MLBer. He slashed .233/.378/.500 and walked more than he struck out. Things have not gone as well so far in August (.185/.241/.333), but not all growth is linear. He should be playing nearly everyday from now through the end of the season.

No such reinforcements seem to be on the way for the Orioles bullpen. The unit was decimated at the deadline, and the injury to closer Félix Bautista did not help. The results since the start of August have been a mixed bag. No bullpen is striking out batters at a higher rate (11.12 K/9). But no other bullpen is allowing home runs as frequently either (2.38 HR/9). Their 5.96 ERA, 5.14 FIP, and 3.22 xFIP illustrate the roller coaster of the last 10 days.

August and September are set up to be extended tryouts for the organization’s fringy relievers. That is undoubtably important to the success of the 2026 team. The Orioles want to be more flexible in the bullpen, but they also want to be dependable. The rest of the season is about finding out who within the club is capable.

Is that fun to watch? There are elements of it that can be. Grant Wolfram seems like he could be a weapon long term. Kade Strowd has had some intriguing moments. And Corbin Martin is mystery box of potential outcomes. If you can detach yourself from caring about the result of the game, there is something interesting about the innings that this bullpen throws right now

Get healthy, stay healthy

The most obvious source of intrigue in the season’s last few weeks will be the return of several injured Orioles. Kyle Bradish has made four rehab appearances so far and is set for at least one more prior to a major league return. Tyler Wells just made his third rehab start, and he could also be one more start away. That will give each of them the chance to make a handful of appearances with the Orioles before the season is over.

The singular thing that sunk this season for the Orioles was the diabolically bad starting pitching in April and May. Elias has to take a rebuilding of the unit this winter seriously. A full, healthy offseason for especially Bradish, but also Wells, could go a long way.

But it’s not all about the pitchers. Ryan Mountcastle just got off the IL last week. As he did, Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser went on the shelf. It’s just the latest development for a lineup that has struggled to get all of their best hitters on the field at the same time this season. The Orioles have to hope that they can give everyone a clean bill of health by the end of September, at least guaranteeing a full offseason for each of them.

For many of us around here, baseball is like pizza. Even when it’s bad, it’s good. Personally, I’ve struggled through far worse seasons of Orioles baseball than 2025. But this one does stand out as the most disappointing in recent memory. Nothing that the team does in the final six weeks will change that. But they can provide us with a few morsels of interest in the season’s waning days.