Orioles Have Seen Biggest Decline of Any MLB Team From Preseason to Present Day

The 2025 MLB regular season has been a disaster for the Baltimore Orioles.

Entering play on June 17, they are 30-41, 12 games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East standings and 6.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox, who currently hold the final wild card spot in the league.

Even the least optimistic of skeptics about how the Orioles handled their offseason couldn’t have seen a bottoming out of this proportion coming.

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Baltimore has been near the bottom of the standings virtually all season. Until a recent hot streak, the only teams with fewer victories than them were the Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies.

While not every analyst was ready to call the Orioles World Series contenders coming into the season, they were still a highly regarded team because of the strong young core that had been put together in their lineup.

Shortstop Gunnar Henderson, catcher Adley Rutschman, second baseman Jackson Holliday, third baseman Jordan Westburg and outfielder Colton Cowser are a great group to build around.

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There was even more intriguing young depth with outfielder Heston Kjerstad and corner infielder Coby Mayo waiting in the wings for their chance to play.

Unfortunately, injuries and ineffective play have crushed the lineup, putting some pressure on a pitching staff no one outside of the organization had much faith in.

As a result, Baltimore has suffered the largest drop in the MLB power rankings shared by The Athletic (subscription required) from the preseason to now.

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Heading into the 2025 campaign, the Orioles were ranked No. 9, in the top third of the league. Now they sit in the bottom third, coming in at No. 23.

“Upon clicking our preseason Power Rankings and searching for the Orioles, I was bracing to discover we’d ranked them in the top five or something to start the season, but instead, we were skeptical about whether they’d done enough to supplement their young core and rebuild their rotation. Both concerns were justified; we just didn’t take them far enough,” wrote Chad Jennings.

Not only have the homegrown players fallen short of expectations, but basically every move that was made this past winter by the front office has not panned out.

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Charlie Morton has looked better recently, but was the worst starting pitcher in baseball out of the gates. Kyle Gibson performed so poorly on the mound he was designated for assignment after four starts.

Outfielder Tyler O’Neill has not been able to stay healthy, and when he is on the field, he isn’t producing. Gary Sanchez has been a bust as the backup catcher and outfielder Dylan Carlson isn’t offering much.

Outfielder Ramon Laureano and starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano are the only external additions made this past winter with a positive bWAR, but it hasn’t been anywhere near enough to prop up the entire team.

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