Have you given up on the Orioles? Mostly given up but trying to pretend you haven’t? Or still fully dreaming?
Hello, friends.
One of the good things about baseball is that if there’s a particularly bad and stupid game, you usually only have to wait until the next day for there to be another game and then you can forget about the dumb one. Orioles fans did not get this reprieve last night due to the weather postponing Wednesday’s game and setting up a doubleheader against the Mets today. We got another night and this morning to stew about it some more.
If you had tickets for last night’s game, check out the official Orioles website for exchange information. Act quickly, because there’s a 4pm deadline to swap tickets from last night. Game 1, the regularly scheduled game, will begin at 12:05, and fans will get the yacht captain’s hat at that game. The second game is scheduled for a 5:05 start.
Charlie Morton will be starting the first game for the Orioles, with Tomoyuki Sugano lined up for game 2. Morton has been doing well over the last six weeks, so hopefully he will continue to do so. Sugano has been going the other direction over the last month. If he is able to reverse that, great. The Orioles probably need to win both of the games to keep their miniscule hopes of a revival alive.
On that thought, I have a simple question for you. What kind of hope do you have remaining for the 2025 Orioles going somewhere good? The reason why I am asking this is because I came across this on Bluesky yesterday and the response to it was, let’s just say, mixed:
For those hoping against hope for an Orioles’ turnaround, you don’t need to waste your time, writes @kylegoon.bsky.social .
The season is all but over.
— Baltimore Banner Sports (@sports.thebaltimorebanner.com) 2025-07-09T18:23:36.485Z
I think, in the aftermath of the team absolutely blowing a game they needed to win on Tuesday night, the only thing to do is recognize that the dream is over. If last night is what it took for someone to reach that point, I understand that. For myself, I wrote on this website on May 15, the day after the Orioles were swept in a doubleheader against the Twins:
The 2025 Orioles season is essentially over. There’s no point in trying to act differently any more. Attempts to rationalize that something else might have been occurring during the few positive lulls over the last six weeks were nothing other than the denial stage of grief. There will be no recovering from this disaster, not while this season plays out. It’s done.
The Orioles have played better baseball at times between then and now, and they remain slightly above .500 during interim manager Tony Mansolino’s tenure, but I haven’t had second thoughts about declaring the season over in mid-May. The math is what it is. They dug a hole too deep with the way that they played up until about the middle of Memorial Day weekend. That was obvious when I wrote the above and it’s even more obvious now that we’ve seen the O’s have some better performance and it’s still not enough.
Folks I follow on Bluesky seemed to be prickly about being told to let go by a general sports columnist who has written four articles about the Orioles since the start of June. The Camden Chat schedule has worked out such that I’ll be publishing four articles about the Orioles today, including this one. So maybe they can take it from me instead: The Orioles season is toast. We can all slide into the unfortunately familiar mode of happily (but miserably) watching a loser Orioles team play out the string. Today, you can even watch them twice.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
Meet the Orioles catchers thrust into action because of injury issues (The Baltimore Sun)
Jacob Stallings and Alex Jackson are surprise 2025 Orioles. The Sun introduces them to O’s fans here.
Brandon Young answered a lot of questions with his breakout start against the Mets (The Baltimore Banner)
I need better than two runs allowed over 5.1 innings before I’m on board with the idea of a breakout. But it’s the only even decent start in Young’s MLB career to date, so that’s something.
Futures Game nod begins Gillies’ whirlwind two days (Orioles.com)
Reliever Keagan Gillies was recently promoted to Triple-A and will also be representing the Orioles in the All-Star Futures Game on Sunday. Best of luck!
The beginning of the end for the Orioles (of old): 8/6/86 (Baltimore Baseball)
John Eisenberg digs in on Orioles history once more to find one particular game that started the collapse from the glory days of the franchise.
Meet the 16th-round Orioles pick who’s playing like a first-rounder (The Baltimore Banner)
It’s not too late for you to get your choice of seat on the Nate George prospect hype train, but with each passing day, that’s becoming less true.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1968, the Orioles fired their manager, Hank Bauer, and replaced him with Earl Weaver. I think we can safely say this decision worked out.
In 2001, Cal Ripken Jr. played in the 19th and final All-Star Game of his career. In a 4-1 AL win over the NL, Cal hit a home run and was named MVP of the game.
There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2018-19 pitcher Josh Rogers, 2018-20 pitcher David Hess, 2017 infielder Johnny Giavotella, 2002-03 outfielder Marty Cordova, 2000-04 reliever Buddy Groom, and 1975-76 infielder Bob Bailor. Today is Bailor’s 74th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: theologian John Calvin (1509), jurist William Blackstone (1723), beermaker Adolphus Busch (1839), writer Marcel Proust (1871), tennis legend Arthur Ashe (1943), folk singer Arlo Guthrie (1947), baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson (1954), and singer-songwriter Jessica Simpson (1980).
On this day in history…
In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists and Lancastrians waged the Battle of Northampton. In the battle, the York force led by the Earl of Warwick killed most of Lancaster’s leaders and captured the king, Henry VI.
In 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state of the Union.
In 1943, during World War II, Allied nations launched Operation Husky, air and sea landings aimed at capturing the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. After about six weeks of fighting, at a cost of nearly 6,000 men killed, the Allies gained control of the island. Ahead of the invasion, a deception campaign called Operation Mincemeat (now a Broadway musical – no, really) was employed to trick the Axis into thinking they were gearing up to invade Greece instead.
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on July 10. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!