Baltimore Orioles postseason aspirations officially ended at 0% following a Thursday White Sox win at Kansas City, leaving manager Craig Albernaz and slugger Pete Alonso to address the club’s 78-81 record and elimination from playoff contention ahead of their series at Yankee Stadium.
Baltimore’s playoff odds dropped to zero during Thursday’s off-day when a Chicago White Sox victory over the Kansas City Royals sealed their fate. The club entered Friday with a 78-81 record, knowing their schedule stops on Sunday.
Clubhouse Reactions to Eliminated Postseason Hopes
Manager Craig Albernaz gathered his players in the visitors’ clubhouse prior to the final three-game series against the New York Yankees. The team missed the playoffs in both 2025 and 2026 after making consecutive postseason appearances in 2023 and 2024.
Obviously, we’re eliminated, and it’s not a place where we wanted to be. But we’re here, and it sucks. It’s something for myself, and also the rest of the team, we don’t want to have this feeling again.
Craig Albernaz, Orioles Manager
Albernaz challenged his roster to undergo individual self-reflection during the upcoming offseason to identify small margins for improvement. Pete Alonso, who signed a five-year, $155 million deal last December, offered an even sharper assessment of the campaign.
That’s not the expectation. As a club, we failed to perform and do what we were supposed to do. We had great moments, great individual performances, but as a whole, that’s not the standard here. And that’s unacceptable for us.
Pete Alonso, Orioles Slugger
A Season Lacking Consistency and Execution
Hopes for a bounce-back year quickly faded as the club struggled to find consistency. Baltimore never held a record above .500 after falling to 9-9 on April 15, spending nearly the entire season below that mark before clawing back to 69-69 on August 31. Any momentum vanished immediately when September opened with six consecutive losses.
Outfielder Colton Cowser noted that the team failed to capitalize on what felt like a down year across the American League.
I think if you ask anyone in this clubhouse, it didn’t really feel like we played our best baseball over a collective period of time — pretty much the whole year.
Colton Cowser, Orioles Outfielder
Looking Ahead to the 2027 Campaign
With the weekend series in New York remaining, the Orioles will soon disband for the offseason. Roster changes via free agency or trades are expected before the team reports for the 2027 season, though players expressed confidence in the organization’s long-term trajectory.
Next year, whatever needs to happen, we need to do a better job. We need to do a better job as players, because that’s what it boils down to. The expectation is to be a great team.
Pete Alonso, Orioles Slugger
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