The Baltimore Orioles suffered this season. They finished with a 75-87 record, which is 16 fewer wins than last season and was the seventh-worst record this year.
Although the Orioles were expected to make a playoff push, they slipped below .500 in the first week of April and never recovered.
The Orioles entered the season with uncertainty after losing their free agent ace Corbin Burnes and right fielder Anthony Santander. It seemed as if the team would not be as good as they were in 2023 and 2024. Even after these losses, the Orioles were still expected to contend.
After losing Cy Young candidate Burnes, the front office brought in new pitchers. They signed 41-year-old Charlie Morton, 35-year-old Tomoyuki Sugano, and 37-year-old Kyle Gibson to one-year deals. The veterans combined to have a 5.49 earned run average, ERA, across 270.0 innings. The average ERA for pitchers was 4.15.
Lifelong Orioles fan James Donoughe ‘26 was disappointed with the team’s response after the loss of Burnes.
“There’s no good words to describe this year. I don’t think I can mince my frustrations with this 2025 season. Going into the season, the team didn’t do enough in the offseason to address Corbin Burnes’ departure… Replacing him with aging pitchers on one-year deals was never going to work,” Donoughe said.
Pitching was especially bad this year. Zach Eflin missed most of the season due to injury and struggled with an ERA of 5.93. Twenty-five-year-old pitcher Grayson Rodriguez was injured the entire year. Dean Kremer tossed 171.2 innings as a workhorse, but his ERA of 4.19 did not carry the team far.
The Orioles were hurt by the departure of right fielder Santander to the Toronto Blue Jays. The 2024 All-Star launched 44 home runs and had 102 runs batted in. Although the right fielder struggled with the Blue Jays in 2025 and most likely would have had similar struggles in an Orioles uniform, Baltimore’s offense was still weaker without Santander.
“[Santander] was such an integral part of the ball club. It’s always going to be a tough loss,” Donoughe said.
To replace Santander, the front office signed outfielder Tyler O’Neill to a three-year, $49.5 million deal. The two-time Gold Glove Award recipient is a talented hitter and defender, that is when healthy. Unfortunately, O’Neill was injured, playing 54 games for the Orioles. He suffered the worst year of his career with an On-Base plus Slugging Percentage, OPS, of .684. and -0.6 wins above replacement, WAR.
Casey Scott ‘27, who has been an Orioles fan as long as he can remember, questions the moves the front office has made.
“I don’t know enough to claim what the problem is. I assume it must be something with the management, though, because only a couple seasons ago we had one of the best teams in the league and the number one ranked farm [system]… In just a couple seasons, everything fell apart at the seams,” Scott said.
The Orioles’ hitting was among the things that fell apart at the seams this season. Donoughe pointed out that the only two Orioles qualified hitters this season were Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday. To become a qualified hitter, a hitter must record 502 plate appearances on the year. The Orioles having just two qualified hitters, the fewest of any team in the league, speaks to their struggles this season.
Henderson and Holliday were the only hitters on the team to eclipse 100 games. Important players such as O’Neill, Adley Rutschman, and Jordan Westburg struggled with health and missed significant time.
“[Some of the cornerstone guys] missed a good portion of the year, and then when they were on the field, there were some obvious regressions,” Donoughe said.
Many Orioles players regressed in On-Base Plus Slugging (OPS) performance. Center fielder Colton Cowser followed up his .768 OPS, American League Rookie of the Year runner-up season, with a much worse OPS of .655. Rutschman had a career-low OPS of .673, lowering his career OPS to .755.
Even Henderson regressed from his MVP-caliber 2024 season. In 2024, Henderson earned a phenomenal 9.1 WAR, hitting 37 home runs with an OPS of .893. Though still the best on the team, Henderson earned 5.4 WAR this year, hitting 17 home runs with an OPS of .787.
Despite moving in the left field wall, the Orioles had a power drought. The offense hit 191 home runs in 2025, the 11th-most in the league. The offense had hit 235 home runs in 2024, the second-most. Overall, the team OPS decreased from .750 in 2024 to .699 in 2025, taking the offense from one of the best in baseball to lackluster.
The Orioles’ unexpectedly poor season caused them to trade away players at the trade deadline. Nine players, including All-Star first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and beloved center fielder Cedric Mullins, were shipped out.
“I think we have to award credit where credit is due with the trade deadline. Obviously, I think it should be qualified that the fact we even had to sell at the deadline was a failure, but I think the prospects we got back… [they] could be something at the major league level,” Donoughe said.
“Between the draft and the deadline, we’ve had an enormous injection of talent into the organization. It’s going to benefit us short-term, but also long-term,” Orioles General Manager Mike Elias said in an interview.
Scott again questioned the front office’s decisions. He does not trust the Orioles’ retooling strategy to be enough to salvage the team’s contention window.
“I know the team is looking to rebuild, but just starting over isn’t gonna fix the problems that ruined the great team that we once had. The problem needs to be addressed at the source, and I haven’t seen anything to indicate that things will change for the better,” Scott said.
The management has the option to change by spending money on outside free agents.
“[The major league roster] is still a little depleted after the deadline. And the only way to fix that is to spend money,” Donoughe said.
Donoughe is cautiously optimistic for the 2026 season. He mentioned that the team was very unlucky this year, particularly with injuries. In addition, Donoughe mentioned the Orioles had a winning record after Manager Brandon Hyde was replaced by Interim Manager Tony Mansolino. The Orioles started 15-28 under Hyde, and ended 60-59 under Mansolino.
Pitching later in the season also improved. Trevor Rogers became the ace of the rotation. Rogers joined the rotation in mid-June and never looked back, throwing 109.2 innings to a 1.81 ERA. To some fans, Rogers was arguably the best pitcher in baseball for the season’s second half.
Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells also emerged later in the season. The pair excelled after missing most of 2024 and 2025 due to elbow injuries. Bradish is pushing himself back to Cy Young caliber after striking out 47 batters in 32.0 innings in 2025. Wells has also demonstrated improvement, tossing a 2.91 ERA in four late-year starts. If Rogers, Bradish, and Wells are healthy and continue to perform, the Orioles’ 2026 rotation has the potential to be better.
The hitting could also be better in 2026. Donoughe highlights Coby Mayo, who had an excellent September with a .301 batting average and five home runs. Prospects such as outfielder Dylan Beavers and catcher Samuel Basallo brought some life to the late-season, and fans hope they continue to help.
“This team still has talent. This team still has the capability to win major league games… I think if they get an offseason to get right, this team can get back to 2024 form… their lineup, top to bottom, fully healthy, is so potent,” Donoughe said.
The Orioles return to Sarasota, Florida, this winter for Spring Training. Their regular season begins on March 26, 2026, with a home opener against the Minnesota Twins.