When the Orioles embarked upon this critical nine-game road trip to Seattle, Dodger Stadium and The Big A in Anaheim, how many of you would have been happy with a 6-3 trip? C’mon, raise your hands, because you are shell-shocked that is a very real possibility.
After going 1-2 in Seattle and blowing that 5-3 lead in the worst possible finish imaginable at Dodger Stadium, I thought the chances of a disastrous 2-7 or 3-6 trip was quite likely.
But, Orioles manager Craig Albernaz’s mantra of focusing on tomorrow’s game seems to be sinking in and giving this team a resilience I hadn’t seen. As crazy as Saturday’s finish was, it gave way to a 12-1 blow-out by the Birds on Sunday and has them busing to Anaheim flying high.
They now face one of baseball’s worst teams in the Angels, who will be without one of their best players in Mike Trout. They are short on starting pitching and have a profoundly inept bullpen.
If the Orioles are about to play with purpose and collectively decide they want to make the run we have all been waiting for, this is the time. This is GO time.
If, as I am suggesting, the Orioles sweep the Angels, they would come home with a 40-42 record. After that the club plays three at home against Washington, three at home against the White Sox, then three on the road in Cincinnati before coming home for the last six games before the All-Star break against the Cubs and Royals.
That is 15 more games after these three in Anaheim. If they can go 9-6 or 10-5 in those last 15 games after sweeping the Angels, they would go into the break above .500 at 50-47 or 49-48. The way the club has played for much of 2026, going into the break above .500 would be a great outcome.
But, it all starts with the sweep at The Big A. The matchups are Kyle Bradish vs. Sam Aldegheri, Shane Baz vs. TBD and Trey Gibson vs TBD.
Let’s see how these next three games go, and then we can start to dream again.
Without further ado, here are my latest power rankings.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (49-29, No. 1 last week): The Dodgers head to Minnesota to play the red-hot Twins and then square off with the Padres in San Diego next weekend.
2. New York Yankees (46-30), No. 3): Since Aaron Judge last played on May 31st, the sky has not fallen. The pinstripers are 10-7 in his absence and have a two-game lead over the Rays. Rumor is GM Brian Cashman is looking for catching help.
3. Philadelphia Phillies (42-35) No. 5): Don Mattingly’s Phillies are 33-16 since he took over from Rob Thomson. They are 6.5 games behind Atlanta, but I think right now, the Phillies are playing better baseball. And this iteration of the Phillies has Zack Wheeler dealing to give the Phils a powerful 1-2 punch of Cristopher Sánchez and Wheeler.
4. Atlanta Braves (48-28, No. 2): The Braves seemed invincible, and maybe time will prove that they are, but they are just 3-7 the last two weeks. They have gotten catcher Drake Baldwin back to go with first baseman Matt Olson and outfielder Michael Harris. While there was hope that Spencer Strider’s return from Tommy John surgery would go smoothly, he had a 5.31 ERA and had allowed nine homers in 39 innings pitched through eight starts before being placed on the IL with right elbow inflammation June 13.
5. Milwaukee Brewers (46-29, No. 4): Imagine where the Brew Crew would be had they not traded RHP Aaron Civale to the desperate White Sox a year ago for first baseman Andrew Vaughn. Vaughn you may remember was the No. 3 draft pick in the 2019 draft after the O’s took Adley Rutschman and the Royals took Bobby Witt Jr. He is currently batting .352 after the pre Chris Getz Sox development folks almost ruined him.
6. Seattle Mariners (40-39, No. 7): I continue to believe in this team, but just as they got catcher Cal Raleigh back, they lost outfielder Randy Arozarena. Objective as I can be, I think unless Raleigh puts on his 2025 Superman cape, 2026 may end badly for Seattle despite all that great starting pitching.
7. Tampa Bay Rays (43-31, No. 6): Even with Yandy Diaz (12), Junior Caminero (15) and Jonathan Aranda (12), the Rays have just 62 homers and are dead last in the majors in the HR category. Since they are 12 games over .500, it isn’t all about the long ball, but it is hard to imagine such a low HR total can sustain a .581 winning percentage.
8. Chicago White Sox (39-37, No. 8): This was Chicago’s first bad week (1-5) in quite a while, but they return home to face a battered Guardians team and the underachieving Royals. It’s a big week for them to regain their mojo. Catcher Kyle Teel is due back this week and first baseman slugger Munetaka Murakami will probably be back around July 5-7.
9. St. Louis Cardinals (41-34, No. 9): Along with the White Sox, the Cardinals are the surprise team in MLB in 2026. Chaim Bloom faces an interesting trade deadline if the team continues defying the experts. OF Jordan Walker and ROY candidate JJ Wetherholt are leading the offense.
10. Chicago Cubs (40-37, No. 13): There was a feeling the Cubs had the goods to be a special team that could make a deep run in 2026. Due in large part to some crippling starting pitching injuries, the reality has been very different. An eye-popping issue, is they have just 11 saves for the season and their leader Daniel Palencia has just 3. That seems hard to sustain and hard to imagine that was part of their blue-print.
11. San Diego Padres (39-37, No. 10)
12. Washington Nationals (40-38, No. 14)
13. Cleveland Guardians (41-37, No. 11)
14. Pittsburgh Pirates (39-39, No. 12)
15. Arizona Diamondbacks (39-38, No. 15)
16. Toronto Blue Jays (38-39, No. 19)
17. Athletics (38-40, No. 18)
18. Miami Marlins (40-38, No. 17)
19. Minnesota Twins (38-41, No. 21)
20. Texas Rangers (37-40, No. 16)
21. Houston Astros (37-42, No. 22)
22. Baltimore Orioles (37-42, No. 20)
23. Cincinnati Reds (37-39, No. 23)
24. Detroit Tigers (33-44, No. 25)
25. New York Mets (34-43, No. 24)
26. Kansas City Royals (32-46, No. 28)
27. San Francisco Giants (31-46, No. 29)
28. Boston Red Sox (31-44, No. 26)
29. Colorado Rockies (30-48, No. 30)
30. Los Angeles Angels (32-47, No. 27)