It’s safe to say the Baltimore Orioles aren’t having the 2026 season they envisioned. After getting swept by the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, being outscored 25-10 in the series, the Orioles sit at 21-29 under first-year manager Craig Albernaz.
The odds are stacked against the club salvaging its slow start to the season. Jacob Meyer of The Baltimore Sun revealed the fate of teams that lost 29 of their first 50 games in a season, and how they fared.
With only 2% of teams with a similar start to Baltimore making the postseason, it’s safe to say they face quite the uphill battle. It’s worth noting that the last five have come since the playoffs expanded from one Wild Card spot to two in 2012, then three in 2022.
Orioles Broadcaster Calls Out Team’s Poor Play in Rays Series
While there is some recent history of a turnaround, especially with more postseason spots to qualify for, their play in the Rays series doesn’t offer much hope. In the postgame coverage on MASN, Orioles commentator Ben McDonald did not hold back in his criticism of the team’s execution for the series.
Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner posted a transcript on X.
McDonald went on a legendary rant about how he doesn’t care about exit velocities, spin rates, and pitch velocities if the execution is lacking.
“You either do or you don’t. And right now, the Orioles don’t. They are not doing it and they’re not playing well right now. That’s the bottom line.”
In the series finale, the club carried a 3-1 lead into the eighth before Tampa Bay scored four in the frame to win 5-3. There were mistakes on the field that the Rays punished the Orioles for. Colton Cowser bobbled a ball in the outfield on Jonathan Aranda’s two-run double, and Ryan Vilade stole home on a perfectly executed double steal for a key insurance run.
McDonald doesn’t see a path forward for the Orioles unless they clean up their late-game execution.
“They are having trouble finishing ball games. Where do they go from here? I can’t tell you where they go from here. I don’t know where the Orioles go from here other than that they have to start playing more consistent baseball.”
Orioles Quickly Fading Out of AL Postseason Picture
The poor showing in Tampa Bay put a significant dent in the Orioles’ postseason hopes. In an American League with few teams emerging, Baltimore lurks on the periphery of postseason contention.
At the time of this writing, they are 3.5 games back of the final Wild Card. But additionally, the Orioles have some concerning metrics that could undercut their season. They carry the second-worst run differential in the AL (-59), trailing only the Los Angeles Angels (-67). The Angels have the worst record in MLB at 17-32.
Much of their struggles have come from the pitching side. Baltimore ranks 26th in MLB with a team ERA of 4.98. The more advanced run-prevention metrics don’t offer much hope of a turnaround, as they’re 25th in FIP (4.47) and 21st in xFIP (4.37).
Their defense isn’t particularly helpful to their pitchers. Statcast ranks the Orioles with -10 fielding run value, which is the fifth-worst total in the league. While they can be happy with their catcher defense (+3), the rest of their lineup is collectively -13. Baseball Reference grades their defense even more harshly, with -23 fielding runs above average.
Offensively, the Orioles are a middle-of-the-pack club. They are 16th in team wRC+ (99) and 17th in runs scored per game (4.33).
Adding up a bottom 10 pitching staff, a bottom five defense, and a middling offense, it doesn’t equate to a very good ball club. And that’s what McDonald has been seeing all season long.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Orioles Broadcaster Calls Out Team Following Another Brutal Loss to Rays appeared first on HEAVY.