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Seven games into the 2026 season, the Orioles sit below .500 at 3-4. It is not what anyone in Birdland was hoping to see. The O’s needed to blast out of the gate to chase away any lingering worries about the things that plagued the team last year, and instead they’ve managed to start up the season feeling like they’ve picked up a lot of last year’s baggage and carried it into this year with them.
In our survey this week, I polled Orioles fans asking what is the biggest concern area with the team right now out of the following areas: Starting pitching, relief pitching, bullpen, and defense. Here’s how the results came back:
I have to say that I’m surprised that defense is down at the bottom, tied for last with starting pitching at 13%. I’m as confident as I can be about anything with the Orioles that the group of hitters who are here are going to be able to figure it out and at least be decent. The defense, on the other hand, is already trending in a bad direction and there’s no sign of improvement on the horizon as long as the personnel remain largely the same.
Those worried about the offense certainly got some validation with Friday’s loss to the Pirates, what with the Orioles going 1-9 with runners in scoring position. That’s one that feels like it’s carrying over from last year. If I started the survey now, maybe more people would be worried about the starting pitching. This survey was posted before Zach Eflin’s injury and before Kyle Bradish turned in a clunker. There’s a lot more chaos potential for the pitching with Eflin’s likely season-ending injury and with Bradish’s performance more of a question.
If you’re feeling like the actual answer is, “Everything,” I get it. The only reason I didn’t list that as an answer is that I knew it would be a runaway winner.