Aug 31, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Baltimore Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino (36) walks back to the dugout after getting the explanation for an interference call against his team that resulted in a double play during the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Orioles rightfully receive poor grade for 2025 campaign despite recent success

Originally posted on Baltimore Orioles on SI
By Nick Ziegler | Last updated Sep 24, 2025 10:10 AM ET

The Baltimore Orioles have entered the final week of the season and will be looking forward to this year coming to a close. Even though the franchise had high expectations in 2025, they fell way short of them this campaign.

Most of the problems for the Orioles happened in the beginning of the season. Even though some games before Memorial Day don’t really matter in baseball, the year was all but over for Baltimore already at that point, which led to the firing of manager Brandon Hyde.

Since then, the team actually hasn’t played terribly. The starting rotation that was a complete mess to start the year was much-improved led by the emergence of Trevor Rogers. Furthermore, a couple of other pitchers came back from injuries and this unit all of a sudden became a strength of the team.

Unfortunately, despite things turning around a bit in the second half of the campaign, the overall year has been a massive failure based on the expectations this team had coming into the season. David Schoenfield of ESPN recently graded the 2025 campaign for the Orioles and gave them the poor grade of ‘D-’ for their efforts.

A Bad Grade Was Deserved for the Orioles

Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images

While a grade of a D- is quite low, it is deserved for this year. Baltimore went from being in the playoffs the last two years to likely finishing in last place in 2025. Furthermore, even though the second half of the year might have been better, there are some significant concerns for the team heading into the winter.

For many years, the young offensive core of the Orioles was projected to be one of the best in baseball and was a major reason why they were able to be as successful as they were the previous two campaigns. Unfortunately, this is a unit that has taken a significant step in the wrong direction.

Former All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman has struggled for over a year now, with injuries starting to become a bit of an issue as well. He went from being one of the best catchers in baseball to now potentially someone that the team might elect to move on from this winter, especially after giving a long-term extension to catching prospect Samuel Basallo.

If the young core on offense isn’t capable of living up to their expectations, Baltimore might have to seek some upgrades in free agency or on the trade market to help support their star Gunnar Henderson in the middle of the order.

Overall, it has certainly been a disappointing campaign for the Orioles in 2025. However, there is reason to believe that with how they have performed in the second half that they might be able to turn things around quickly.

This article first appeared on Baltimore Orioles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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