The Orioles ended the first half of the season with a thud.
After winning three games in a row, they lost two straight to the Miami Marlins to end the first half with a 43-52 record — the third-worst mark in the American League. With the All-Star break in the rearview mirror, only 14 games remain until the trade deadline, and the Orioles are 7 1/2 games back of the AL’s final wild-card spot.
Here’s the Orioles reset:
What wasn’t good?
Last Friday, it was starting to seem possible. The Orioles had won six of their past seven games, including sweeping a doubleheader versus the Mets, to improve to seven games under .500 and six games out of a wild-card spot. What was once viewed as a Sisyphean task began to look achievable.
Then the Orioles were outscored 17-1 by the Marlins over two games, and the boulder rolled back down the hill.
“We’ve been on a breakneck pace here for the last two months because of the hole we dug ourselves,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said before Sunday’s game. “Everything is a must-win every night is what it feels like. It feels like we’ve been playing September baseball for the last two months. I think that part, the mental side of it, we need a break.”
No team in MLB history (since 1901) has won 43 or fewer of its first 95 games and ended that season with more than 84 wins. Only eight teams have ever started a season this poorly and finished the year above .500.
With 67 games remaining, the Orioles must play at an incredible pace to make the playoffs. To end the season with 87 wins (the average total needed to make the playoffs), the Orioles would need to go 44-23 the rest of the way — a 106-win pace.
What isn’t good? Baltimore’s playoff hopes.
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What was good?
The skipper.
Mansolino was put into an impossible situation two months ago. “I didn’t ask for this,” he said Sunday, the same sentiment he gave the day he took over for Brandon Hyde.
The first week was disastrous. The Orioles were blown out twice by the Nationals, lost two more to the Brewers to extend the losing streak to eight games, and then lost two straight games to the Red Sox, one by 14 runs and the other on a walk-off in extra innings to fall to 18 games below .500.
But then the Trevor Rogers game happened, and the Orioles have been one of the majors’ best teams since. Mansolino would never take credit for the club’s 27-18 record since that 2-1 win in Boston, and it’s impossible to know how much of it is a result of his managerial style. In all likelihood, had the Orioles stuck with Hyde, the team’s win total would be within one standard deviation in either direction of the 42 wins it currently has.
But maybe not. There is no way to know. Either way, Mansolino was tasked with getting this team back on track. He’s done just that. Managers are ultimately judged by wins and losses, and Mansolino has more of the former than the latter.
“I think when you just kind of get thrown into the fire, you’re trying to get your feet settled and adapt,” Mansolino said. “I do think that I’ve been prepared for this for a long time by my dad, by [Vanderbilt coach] Tim Corbin, by the Cleveland Indians, by the people here. I think my training and my experiences in the past in this game and the people that I’ve been so fortunate to be around — I think all that kind of expedited my process. … I think over a couple months this has really slowed down for me. I feel like I’m getting better in my job by the day.
“What’s important to me is that the people in the organization and their families are represented the right way in the end. I don’t want any more negativity to go towards the organization, towards our players, towards our coaches, towards our front office people. It cuts deep for us here when you kind of get [dragged] through the mud the way that we did. The fact that we’ve kind of gotten ourselves out of that and we’re seeing it in a much better light right now, that’s the enjoyable part for me.”
What’s next?
Three games in steamy Tampa with a ticking clock before the July 31 trade deadline.
Charlie Morton, Dean Kremer and Rogers will start opposite right-handers Taj Bradley, Zack Littell and Ryan Pepiot this weekend at the outdoor George M. Steinbrenner Field — the Rays’ home this season after Tropicana Field suffered damage from a hurricane in the offseason. Tampa Bay (50-47) was MLB’s hottest team when the Orioles played them seven times in June, but the Rays ended the first half with only three wins in their last 14 games.
An Orioles series loss would further solidify the likelihood of a trade deadline fire sale.
On the farm
This section might as well just become a weekly update on Samuel Basallo. Let’s call it “Sammy slams” or “Basallo bombs.”
What Basallo is doing in Triple-A at 20 years old is not normal.
Last week, Basallo went 7-for-18 (.389) with three doubles, three homers and 10 RBIs. On the season, the Orioles’ top prospect is slashing .264/.383/.591 — good for a .975 OPS. Basallo, who is 6 1/2 years younger than the average player in Triple-A, has 19 homers in 62 games. Since the start of June, he’s walked more than he’s struck out. He was named the International League’s Player of the Week and the Orioles’ Player of the Month for his performance in June.
Basallo, the top catching prospect in baseball, has proved his bat is too advanced for Triple-A. When he’s given the chance to hit major league pitching remains to be seen.
Extra innings
• The Orioles ended the first half with an average attendance of 23,541 fans per game, ranking 23rd out of 30 MLB teams. That’s down a whopping 16.1% compared with Camden Yards’ average attendance through the first half of the 2024 season. The 2025 Orioles have 16 fewer wins than the 2024 Orioles did at the All-Star break.
• Coby Mayo appeared to be finding his stride in the big leagues in late June, posting a .250 average and .680 OPS since his call-up May 31. Then Tyler O’Neill came off the injured list and Jordan Westburg’s finger healed, resulting in Mayo retreating to the bench. The Orioles’ No. 2 prospect started only two of Baltimore’s 11 games in July. Mansolino said he’s talked with Mayo multiple times about his decreasing playing time. The skipper said it’s difficult to find Mayo playing time with four outfielders and three corner infielders ahead of him on the depth chart. “We have to make the choice right now to win games,” Mansolino said. “We’re still not out of this thing. … There’s still a path forward for us, and until that path disappears, our No. 1 priority has to be to win and secondary is development.”
• Orioles outfield prospect Enrique Bradfield Jr. was placed on Double-A Chesapeake’s injured list Thursday after aggravating an earlier hamstring injury during the MLB All-Star Futures Game on Saturday.
• Reliever Corbin Martin elected free agency after he was designated for assignment last weekend. Martin, a 29-year-old right-hander, posted a 5.29 ERA in 29 appearances for Triple-A Norfolk and tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the Orioles in early July versus the Rangers.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
