The offense has disappeared again and the Orioles just got mopped in a four-game series against the Red Sox and they've now lost seven of eight overall. What is there even to feel good about? Mark grasps for what he can find but mostly it's another disappointing set of games to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark was starting to wonder if the Orioles would ever give out a contract extension to anyone and they finally did it, going for young catcher Samuel Basallo. In this episode, considering the cases for some other Orioles who are or might have once been good candidates, plus Mark's current minimum goal for this team's win total. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark went on vacation for a few days and that's when Mike Elias struck with the Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo call-ups. Some things have gone better with the Orioles in August, particularly in the rotation. Will all of this be enough to build some excitement for 2026? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you get down to it, a team that disappoints as hard as the Orioles have done in 2025 should be bending over backwards to keep fans in the fold. Instead, the Orioles are implementing aggressive season ticket plan changes that may act to drive away a lot of old 13-game holders. Mark is quite unhappy about the decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a weekend series in which the Orioles scored eight runs and got twelve hits across three games, with the brutal hitting (and sometimes fielding) outfield situation still present, Mark is feeling like it's a real grim march to follow the team right now. Good chance to check in on the teams the Orioles traded guys to in July. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watching a bunch of guys who have no business being near an MLB mound get blown out in Philadelphia has not filled Mark with excitement for next season. The Orioles have chosen this time to send out season ticket info where it seems like they're squeezing fans yet again. It's not great! In the mailbag, another lament about a lack of Orioles contract extensions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Orioles traded two outfielders away at the trade deadline, so you'd think that means they're calling up their hot-hitting AAA outfielder Dylan Beavers. Instead, Mike Elias has Jordyn Adams and Dylan Carlson on the roster and had Jeremiah Jackson playing OF in Chicago. Mark is grumpy about this. In the mailbag, assessing pitching depth and Elias's 2026 outlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Elias was a busy, busy man ahead of the trade deadline, which made for a busy, busy week for your Orioles podcaster/blogger. Mark breaks down each of the many individual trades and tries to look at all of them as a group to see what the O's outlook is for the rest of the season and hopefully for the future with this group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are three days to go until the trade deadline and unless Mike Elias made late night trades after this recording, the Orioles have only dealt two guys in July. Mark is anxious to get the dealing over with so everyone can start to look towards building the best possible 2026 O's team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark is feeling both excited and anxious about the fact that the Orioles roster is headed for a period of turnover across the next week, between trades coming and rehabs that will wrap up. Maybe it'll turn out well? Plus, looking at the changes to O's prospect lists as various publications update for the middle of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Orioles did not start a miracle winning streak right out of the All-Star break, so it's settled: They're sellers. With ten days to the deadline, Mark tries to read recent Mike Elias tea leaves to figure out if post-2026 free agents are on the table. From the mailbag, a listener asks if a prospect is promoted after the trade deadline, is the rest of the season enough time to prove himself? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are 14 Orioles games over 13 days to go until we arrive at the 2025 trade deadline. Mark is both excited for and dreading the sell-off that is dictated by their place in the standings. After one more run through who might be traded and what kind of value they could have, we turn to the O's just-concluded draft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between the Orioles trading Bryan Baker and sweeping the Mets on Thursday, Mark had a whole lot to talk about in this episode. Which way will the Orioles go? In a big mailbag episode, Mark goes over the wild card case, MVO, and looks ahead to possible draft picks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Orioles pulled off a nice weekend sweep in Atlanta, yet got no closer in the wild card chase because the Mariners also got a sweep this weekend. In this episode, Mark reacts to the latest injury to an Orioles catcher and starts to question the Mike Elias logic that's keeping it from being Samuel Basallo time. Plus, in the mailbag, thoughts on Elias's worst trades to date. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Orioles have now played as many games under Tony Mansolino as they did under Brandon Hyde and they're actually above .500 in that stretch. Really: 22-21. Mark is thinking about how they've done this even with injury headwinds remaining against them over that time. Plus, looking ahead to this weekend's matchup with another 2025 disappointment, the Atlanta Braves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Orioles are 15-11 in June, which is pretty good. Mark just can't lose sight of the fact that April and May dug such a huge hole, so the next month is going to be about the O's probably trading away players to try to reinforce the next wave coming from the system. Six-plus years into his tenure, Mike Elias still hasn't really done much to turn late-draft depth into prospects. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People have been gradually reaching the breaking point where they finally give up on the 2025 Orioles for most of the last month and a half. Did you hit yours yet? Mark figures everyone must have and goes into some comparing of this year to 2018. Also, he goes on a lengthy rant about how you hardly ever see the Oriole Bird any more, and that's a shame. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh off of watching a performance of the Les Miserables musical, Mark is thinking about all the ways that the 2025 Orioles are even more depressing and full of tragedy than the Victor Hugo book, without even the benefit of a redemptive arc of salvation. Don't worry, this bit only lasts for about 25% of the episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If anyone had started to feel better about the Orioles lately, they shredded that pretty well with Wednesday's awful loss to the Rays. Mark is still steaming about it, and concerned about how it reflects on something bad in the big picture: There's nobody good to pitch this year maybe next year either. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Orioles are fresh off a three-game sweep of the Angels where they won each game in a different way, giving them a 14-6 record over the last 20 games. Not bad at all! It's enough that Mark is feeling better about their trajectory, though he wants everyone to keep in mind the one guy who REALLY has to be convinced is Mike Elias. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices