{"id":725765,"date":"2026-06-25T20:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T20:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/725765\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T20:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T20:06:16","slug":"orioles-players-reflect-on-the-first-half-and-gear-up-for-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/725765\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles players reflect on the first half and gear up for what\u2019s next"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 Before this nine-game road trip began, it was not a stretch to define this as a pivotal juncture for the Orioles.<\/p>\n

Win six of nine games? That would have prodded the Orioles into wild-card contention, giving credence to internal belief that despite inconsistent play, they\u2019re not out of it. <\/p>\n

Lose six? An indicator that, as the trade deadline approaches, the Orioles were steering toward another sell-off.<\/p>\n

The Orioles, of course, lost five and won four \u2014 and did little to answer the existential questions about their season.<\/p>\n

The morale, at least from members of a fan base that watched Baltimore fumble away two wins with late-game collapses, is low. There were thousand-yard stares and frustration within the clubhouse Wednesday evening at Angel Stadium, as well, after the second of those two blow-up innings cost a series.<\/p>\n

But when asked about the state of the club at the halfway point of the season (82 games down, 80 to go), a large portion of the Orioles\u2019 clubhouse stood united in their public stance. The veterans in the room, including Pete Alonso, Kyle Bradish and, yes, 24-year-old Gunnar Henderson, acknowledged the shortcomings but took heart in the standings.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, Baltimore\u2019s 38-44 record found the team only two games back of the final wild-card spot in the mediocre American League. There are only five clubs with above-.500 records in the AL. Resting on one\u2019s laurels because of the second-rate opposition won\u2019t get the Orioles far, but they hold out belief that these next 80 games can be better than the first 82.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good amount of time left to make something of this season, and it\u2019s all out there in front of us,\u201d closer Ryan Helsley said. \u201cThe AL is pretty wide open.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing, probably, some of our best baseball we\u2019ve played all year,\u201d Bradish said before Wednesday\u2019s loss. \u201cI think that\u2019s probably at the right time. Coming into the second half, we\u2019ve gotta go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played, I feel like, some decent ball. I feel like there\u2019s still a lot of room for growth,\u201d Henderson said before the series-ending loss that included three errors, one of them from him. \u201cExecution down the stretch is going to be big for us, and defensively, execution in the back half of games is going to be what wins us a lot of games this next stretch of games. I feel like if we do that, we\u2019re close in position right now for the wild-card spots anyways, but I feel like that\u2019s what\u2019s ultimately going to help us get to the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

These next 80 games must be much better than the first 82. The Orioles are on pace for 75 wins, which is the same number they finished with last year, despite an offseason of change.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, FanGraphs gave<\/a> the Orioles a 27% chance to make the playoffs. Generally, 86 wins are enough for a team to make the postseason, but that number could be lower this year given how poorly the AL is playing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson celebrates with teammates after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Seattle Mariners on June 17. (Kevin Ng\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Still, using 86 wins as a benchmark, the Orioles would need to go 48-32 over their last 80 games \u2014 a .600 winning percentage. Impossible? No. But that\u2019s a level of consistency not yet seen by this team.<\/p>\n

After a poor start to 2025, the Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde<\/a>. They opted against retaining interim manager Tony Mansolino for the permanent role and hired a first-time manager in Craig Albernaz, the former bench coach for the Cleveland Guardians.<\/p>\n

President of baseball operations Mike Elias swung trades for Taylor Ward, Blaze Alexander and Shane Baz, and signed Alonso to a deal never before seen in Baltimore, among the multiple additions.<\/p>\n

But improved results haven\u2019t followed, and while Helsley said there is a long way still to go, the Aug. 3 trade deadline isn\u2019t that far away. In this next month, Elias must decide whether to buy, sell or stand pat. So will the front offices of those teams in and around the playoff hunt.<\/p>\n

If Baltimore isn\u2019t deemed close enough to competing, trading expiring contracts may be prudent. But there is the realistic possibility, given the lack of a postseason win under Elias in eight seasons, that a sell-off at the deadline could be the last straw for a new ownership group that has expressed a desire to win a World Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great team, great clubhouse, and I\u2019ve been part of some trade deadlines in the past and it\u2019s never fun seeing your friends leave, and that\u2019s always hard,\u201d Helsley said. \u201cSo, hopefully we play really good down the stretch here and maybe add a piece or two to make us a little better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like we\u2019ve shown we can, obviously, win games,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of execution. It\u2019s not the lack of talent. I feel like, like I said, it\u2019s locking in to execute those plays. And I feel like we\u2019re definitely a playoff team, it\u2019s just a matter of, like I keep saying, executing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henderson said that before the lack of ninth-inning execution derailed Wednesday\u2019s game. Baltimore held a 6-5 lead in the 10th inning and left-hander Keegan Akin forced what appeared to be the game-ending ground ball with the automatic runner on third. Instead, there was hesitation between Akin and Alonso as to who should be at the bag, and Akin dropped the toss from Jeremiah Jackson. Then came the Angels\u2019 walk-off.<\/p>\n

On Friday at Dodger Stadium, another late-game meltdown<\/a> prevented a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look at this road trip, overall, there\u2019s a couple innings that beat us,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cObviously, that one inning at Dodger Stadium, and this one here. And if you do a two-game swing or whatever that is, that\u2019s 6-3 as opposed to 4-5.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Orioles had gone 6-3 rather than 4-5 on this road trip, they would be 40-42, sitting in possession of the third wild-card spot ahead of the 39-41 Toronto Blue Jays. That\u2019s how close this chase is \u2014 and how little the margin for error.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely still in it, every step of the way,\u201d outfielder Tyler O\u2019Neill said. \u201cAll it takes is a bit of a win streak and everyone to get clicking at the same time for us to really show what we\u2019re going to be able to do. It\u2019s just been a bit of an inconsistent year so far. And like I said, I think our guys, and myself and everyone in here, our best baseball is ahead of us, and that\u2019s going to come. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I mean, there\u2019s a light at the end of the tunnel. We know we have a good chance to make it into the playoffs and go for a good run. Obviously, we believe in each other and the guys in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a promising development, it\u2019s the way the Orioles\u2019 rotation has pitched<\/a> over the last month. Since May 21, the day after the Tampa Bay Rays swept Baltimore, Orioles starters have combined for a 3.86 ERA, which is among the top 10 in the majors.<\/p>\n

Bradish said the rotation was \u201cjust tired of losing and putting our guys in a hole like we were at the beginning of the year,\u201d so they turned their play around by attacking the strike zone more determinedly. <\/p>\n

The offense, by most metrics, has been at least average \u2014 a low bar to clear for a group expected to be among baseball\u2019s best. They rank 15th with a .722 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and their 382 runs scored are ninth-most.<\/p>\n

The issue, generally, has been putting it all together. Too frequently, the three sides of baseball \u2014 hitting, pitching and fielding \u2014 are disjointed. <\/p>\n

Part of that is a breakdown in late-game defensive execution. Alonso said it\u2019s as simple as executing when it matters, and when asked why that hasn\u2019t been the case, he struggled to pinpoint one area. It could be partially mental, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes if you care too hard, you get in your own way,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cEvery guy has their own individual process, and whatever we need to do to get out of our own way as a group and execute, that\u2019s what we have to do. And that\u2019s up to every individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

At some point this next month, the calendar will dictate a decision Elias has to make. The Orioles are teetering on the edge of a precipice. A few steps backward and they could fall out of playoff contention quickly, even in this weak AL. <\/p>\n

A winning streak of any size, however, could vault Baltimore surprisingly into the playoff field before the end of July.<\/p>\n

Either way, there is no way around this: \u201cFor us, now\u2019s the time. This has to be the time,\u201d Alonso said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 Before this nine-game road trip began, it was not a stretch to define this as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[367,1558,363,11999,99],"class_list":["post-725765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-american-league","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-national-league","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}