When the Orioles return to play after the All-Star break, they’ll have 65 games remaining, and some momentum. For the first time this season, they have a four-game winning streak, and are five games below .500 at 46-51.
They’re in fourth place in the American League East, 11 ½ games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, and now trail the third-place Boston Red Sox, who’ve won nine straight, by 1 ½ games.
They’re two games behind Seattle and Minnesota, who are tied for the third and final wild-card spot. Boston and Houston are ahead of them.
The Orioles resume play with a six-game road trip against the Astros and Red Sox.
According to BaseballReference.com, the Orioles have a 12.8 percent chance to make the playoffs. FanGraphs estimates the Orioles’ chances at 22.2 percent.
FanGraphs predicts the Orioles will go 33-32 for the rest of the season and finish with a 79-83 record, two games behind Boston and Chicago.
The team’s inconsistency saw the Orioles put together eight three-game winning streaks before they finally won a fourth straight.
“I think a lot of it is little things that pop up here and there,” reliever Andrew Kittredge said. “We’ll play a really good game, and then one little facet of a game will kind of derail it at times. It doesn’t consistently seem to be the same thing every time. The teams that do the little things really well, with talent, those are teams that go a long way. We’ve got the talent.
“We’ve got to do the little things a little bit more consistently, whether it’s not giving up extra bases or taking extra bases or just making routine plays, not walking guys. Little things like that that kind of add up. In any given night, it doesn’t always seem to be one thing. But those are the kinds of things that I think have been costing us games.”
How difficult is the Orioles’ schedule? After the road trip, the Orioles host two difficult opponents, Atlanta and Philadelphia, the top two teams in the National League East. In between those series, they’ll visit Detroit for three games with the hot Tigers, who are 6 ½ games out of the AL Central lead.
Bench coach Donnie Ecker knows that making the postseason will be a challenge.
“Your record is the truth and that does define who we’ve been,” he said. “It does not define where we can go.”
August brings a pair of three-city road trips — a 10-game trip to Texas, Minnesota and Tampa Bay and a nine-game trip against St. Louis, the Athletics and Colorado.
Once the Orioles return from their three-game series in Denver on September 4th, 14 of their final 23 games will be at home and each of their nine road games will be in the Eastern time zone (Mets, Toronto, Yankees).
How will the Orioles replace Blaze Alexander? In a lopsided game on Sunday, third baseman Blaze Alexander suffered a broken left hand after he was hit by a pitch from Kansas City’s Lucas Erceg.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias and manager Craig Albernaz have the All-Star break to contemplate who will replace Alexander on the roster.
Coby Mayo will get plenty of playing time at third. Jeremiah Jackson, who played third base in his first two major league months, could play there. Jackson Holliday has played parts of three games at third.
The Orioles could call up Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who’s playing third at Triple-A Norfolk. Encarnaction-Strand has had some experience at third with Cincinnati from 2023-2025, has been playing third for the Tides and is hitting .273 with an .863 OPS, 17 home runs and 48 RBIs.
Encarnacion-Strand is on the 40-man roster while Luis Vázquez, another possibility, is not. Vázquez had a late start to this season when he suffered a broken thumb during an exhibition game at Oriole Park on March 22nd.
He played 32 games last season for the Orioles and started at third base four times. Vázquez is hitting just .219 at Norfolk.
Notes: The Orioles optioned left-handed pitcher Nick Raquet to Norfolk. Raquet, who pitched a scoreless inning last Tuesday against the Cubs, has a 7.36 ERA in four games with the Orioles this season. … Right-handed pitcher Cameron Sanders was acquired from Pittsburgh in exchange for cash considerations. Sanders, who was optioned to Norfolk, has an 8.44 ERA in 15 games with the Pirates in 2025 and 2026. To make room for Sanders on the 40-man roster, left-hander Keegan Akin, who’s scheduled to see Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday for his left elbow discomfort, was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list … Double-A Chesapeake left-hander Luis De Léon, who allowed just two hits in eight innings on Saturday, was named the Eastern League’s Pitcher of the Week.
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