The Orioles have won three of their last four series for the first time since the early-to-mid-July stretch that produced their season-best seven-game winning streak.
Unfortunately, they have also lost ground in the American League wild-card race over that time and remain four games below .500. That wouldn’t be as discouraging if it were still June or July, but there’s now less than a month to go in the 2026 regular season.
Of course, each of those series wins included an unsuccessful opportunity to sweep in the final game, and that series defeat was a sweep at the hands of the New York Yankees at Camden Yards. It all added up to a 7-6 record that didn’t move the needle.
One or two steps forward, two or three steps back.
That said, the opportunity to flip the script and optimize a potential September run before they return home late next week is right in front of them. In fact, the Orioles just need to take a cue from the club they’re now chasing in this lackluster wild-card race.
Not even two weeks ago, Cleveland appeared to be circling the drain after going a miserable 10-20 since the All-Star break to fall a season-worst five games below .500. But they then embarked on a six-game road trip to face two of the worst teams in baseball.
Sound familiar?
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The Guardians went 6-0 against Colorado and the Los Angeles Angels to move back above .500 and go from one game back to two games up in less than a week. We’ll see whether Cleveland comes anywhere close to sustaining this red-hot pace or falls back to the pack in the coming days, but the inspiration is there for Craig Albernaz’s club.
After taking two of three in St. Louis, the Orioles now travel to Sacramento to face an Athletics club that’s won a total of 13 games since the start of July. They’ll then finish the road trip against a Rockies team trying to avoid a fourth consecutive 100-loss season.
If there were ever a time to pique interest and enthusiasm for September, a 5-1 or 6-0 mark against teams holding the two worst run differentials and two of the three worst records in baseball is in order. We’ve accepted the idea that the bar is so low for that final wild-card spot, but getting back to .500 for the first time since April 30 is the bare minimum if you want anyone to really buy into Baltimore’s place in this race of the undead.
Anything less than going 4-2 against the lowly A’s and Rockies, and the Orioles might as well get their purple and black out of the closet with the rest of Baltimore when they get home. The burden of proof is on the team that hasn’t had a winning record since before the NFL draft and hasn’t sustained a long stretch of truly inspiring baseball in more than two years.
Will Pete Alonso’s red-hot bat continue carrying this club into the season’s final month?
Can a couple others catch fire and sustain it?
Will a starting rotation beginning to display some signs of wearing down hold up down the stretch?
8Will the bullpen continue to outperform its perception?
How will the returning Blaze Alexander and — potentially — Felix Bautista fit into the mix?
These questions and others will persist when the Orioles return home to host the Boston Red Sox for the start of a four-game set next Thursday. But they can’t expect anyone to embrace them as a playoff contender without disposing of two of baseball’s dregs over these next six days.
Baltimore’s track record warrants skepticism. We’ve seen the Orioles compete with the best — they entered Friday with the ninth-best winning percentage in baseball against teams at or above .500 — and then play down to their competition throughout the season, which is why they’ve hovered somewhere between two and nine games below .500 for five months now.
Nothing will be decided, of course, but if the Orioles can’t make their move over this next week, it probably isn’t happening.
