Hello, friends.
The Orioles found a way to avoid a complete disaster of a series in Boston by winning the second game of yesterday’s doubleheader, in the process stopping the Red Sox from setting a new franchise record for longest winning streak. The first game of the doubleheader was almost as bad as the first one was good. Check out Paul Folkemer’s recap of the first game if you want some not-so-lovely totals, and John Beers’s recap of the second game if you’re more in the mood for some lovely totals.
Splitting the doubleheader leaves the Orioles at 50-53 on the season, three games out of the third wild card spot with two teams to pass. Those teams are the Red Sox and Mariners, each of whom currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Orioles. They are in better shape than they were before the seven-game winning streak. They have, for now, passed a lot of the other fringe contenders who were in their way. That’s worth something. I don’t know if it will end up being worth enough.
There are nine games left to play before the August trade deadline. What kind of record do the Orioles need between now and then to have it where you definitely think they need to push the chips in for this year? More importantly, where do the Orioles even have an opportunity to buy?
On the other side, what record would send you into “sell-off” territory? It’s tough to feel like there should be any buying when the team is three games below .500. It’s also tough to contemplate the team being dismantled when the team is three games out of a playoff spot.
The coming nine games are against the Braves, Tigers, and Phillies. That’s two highly likely NL playoff teams plus one kinda-sorta fringe contender in the Tigers. Realistically, going 5-4 over these nine games would probably be a fine outcome. Still, it would leave the Orioles two games under .500 at the deadline and if the Red Sox resume winning then they might be farther out of a playoff spot.
Mike Elias has never had an aggressive buyer trade deadline in his Orioles GM tenure, even faced with teams that were in good positions but also in need of real help. I’m not saying I’ll never get over the fact that he needed to get a real dude to help in the postseason for the 2023 Orioles and what Elias got instead was Jack Flaherty. I’m just not over it yet. He needed to help the 2024 Orioles lineup and he got Eloy Jiménez.
I have a hard time imagining that this year’s Orioles roster is going to be the one to get him to make a real, big move. But, he does have a lot of “soon to be Rule 5 eligible” prospect inventory and he might want to thin that out. If teams are making players with 2027 control available, and that gives the Orioles a chance to add someone who can help the rest of this year (a longshot) along with next year (hopefully a better team) then they should look into doing that.
Have you made your voice count in this week’s poll about whether the Orioles should extend Trevor Rogers?
Orioles stuff you might have missed
Tyler O’Neill leaves doubleheader nightcap early (The Baltimore Sun)
This happened last night and you had to wonder if it was injury-related, but after the game manager Craig Albernaz indicated the move was made for game tactical reasons. Okay.
Orioles put Samuel Basallo on injured list (School of Roch)
Part of the consideration for the trade deadline is this: Catcher is one of the only good positions for the Orioles and now the two guys who’ve been responsible for that are currently on the injured list. We’re in the “hope it’s a short-term situation but there’s nothing firm yet” phase for both Basallo and Adley Rutschman.
Looking back on the Orioles 2025 trade deadline haul (The Baltimore Banner)
It would be nice if there were some more unambiguous wins in this. There’s a decent amount riding on Boston Bateman’s recent triceps issue not turning out to be The Big One.
The crowded field for Orioles minor league hitter of the year (Orioles On The Verge)
You have to be a subscriber to their Substack to get their full list for the field. There’s no doubt that the team has a number of interesting performers at various levels of the minors, starting with but not limited to last year’s high draft picks, Ike Irish and Wehiwa Aloy.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2013, the Orioles traded Nick Delmonico to the Brewers for Francisco Rodríguez. Seemingly in the midst of a career revival with a 1.09 ERA at the time of the trade, the reliever formerly known as K-Rod bombed with the Orioles, pitching to a 4.50 ERA.
Of all the players to ever play for the Orioles, not a single one has a July 23 birthday.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: novelist Raymond Chandler (1888), Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie (1892), baseball Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese (1918) and Don Drysdale (1936), Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash (1965), basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton (1968), and actor Daniel Radcliffe (1989).
On this day in history…
In 1903, the first Ford car was sold. The company reported 2,204,124 sales in 2025.
In 1914, events continued escalating towards what we now refer to as World War I with Austria-Hungary making an ultimatum to Serbia demanding the right to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Even with Serbia accepting all but one of the demands, Austria-Hungary declared war five days later.
In 1962, Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, becoming the first African American player inducted.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 23. Have a safe Thursday.
