No one expected this from the Baltimore Orioles. The team won more than 100 games in 2023 and the American League East, then made it back to the postseason with north of 90 wins last year.
The offense is widely comprised of young stars who have not reached their prime yet, and another step forward in their development was expected this year. That has been hit or miss to this point, and it leaves O's at 15-27 record entering Friday, last in the division, 14th in the American League and 27th in MLB.
It is a poor start to the year, and there is no doubt about that. But 162 games is a lot. Especially compared to just the 42 they have played so far. Though the first quarter of the campaign has come and gone, Baltimore is still not completely out of this ... yet.
A recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report broke down every team's postseason chances at the quarter mark and ranked them in their likelihood. While the Orioles hold a 2.7% chance of making it into October per B/R, and are ranked 23rd by Miller.
"It wouldn't much feel like the O's have any hope," Miller wrote, "if we hadn't watched the 2019 Washington Nationals (19-31 after 50 games) and 2021 Atlanta Braves (didn't have a winning record until their 111th game of the season) battle back from slow starts to win it all.
"Maybe Baltimore can right the ship and get back on track to those preseason expectations on par with how well it fared in the past two seasons. However, the team has shown no reason to assume a similar turnaround is forthcoming."
There is still a lot of baseball left to play, 120 games, in fact, for those keeping score at home.
The Orioles are not officially out of the running just yet, but they have to turn things around quick, fast if they expect to see the light of day come October.
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