The final month of the 2025 regular season is going to be nothing more than preparation for the upcoming season for the Baltimore Orioles. Their playoff hopes have long been dashed, and losses like the 3-1 defeat they suffered on Sunday to the San Francisco Giants aren't going to help matters whatsoever.
Nothing is going to come easy for the Orioles, however, as they enter this preparation phase. Of the 25 games they have left on the schedule, 16 of them will be coming against teams with a winning record. In fact, they will be facing the New York Yankees seven times, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, and San Diego Padres three times each.
However, as intimidating as that sounds, Orioles manager Tony Mansolino is not afraid and he backs his team to do their best against the teams that, if the season ended today, would qualify for the postseason.
“I have probably more optimism than that. We’ve got Kyle Bradish going tomorrow [and probably Tyler Wells on Tuesday]. We have some good things happening. This last week has been rough. I don’t think we can take this last week and indict the team’s future on that. I think I’m probably more going to look at what’s happened over the last couple months,” Mansolino said, per Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball.
Baltimore has gone 2-8 over their past 10 games, and they've been ravaged by injuries and underperformance from their key guys all year long. But Mansolino has faith that the Orioles will right the ship in no time, difficult schedule notwithstanding.
“The big leagues are hard and the schedule’s hard and it’s a huge opportunity for a lot of guys, and I’ve got a lot of faith and confidence in these guys that they’ll kind of bounce back and play a better game tomorrow,” Mansolino added.
Orioles look to bounce back in 2026
The Orioles learned firsthand that progression in the big leagues isn't linear. After being a playoff team over the past two seasons and a winning ballclub for the past three, they came crashing back down to earth, what with some of their talented prospects failing to make a mark as they transition to the big leagues.
Make no mistake about it, however, the Orioles are still set up to compete for the foreseeable future. An upgrade or two to their pitching corps, not to mention a consolidation trade or two to acquire another legitimate position player superstar, could take Baltimore to the next level.
