Is this really how it’s going to end for Ryan Mountcastle in Baltimore?

If so, MASN should have waited until today to replay his nine-RBI game from 2023 rather than a few weeks ago. Or maybe cue it up again.

That’s my programming note. Give the man his flowers.

With his luck, he’d slice open a finger on the thorns.

The deadline has arrived for teams to exercise or decline options for 2027. Mountcastle, who turns 30 in February, is owed $7.5 million if he stays. The Orioles silenced the non-tender speculation last November and signed him two months later for $6.787 million and added an option that would cover his first free-agent year. But there’s lots of speculation that they’ll walk away from a $7.5 million commitment with Pete Alonso getting most of the starts at first base and various players rotating into the designated hitter spot.

The cost to keep Mountcastle might be too high for a bench player, though president of baseball operations Mike Elias insisted last spring that there would be available at-bats.

“Mounty has historically been great against left-handed pitching, and so I think he’s going to be a front-line player for us against a lot of opponents,” Elias said. “We believe in his stick.”

Of course, this was before Coby Mayo emerged as a masher against left-handers and the club acquired Christian Encarnacion-Strand to also serve as DH when he isn’t at third base or on the bench. And Jordan Westburg is expected to return after his elbow-reconstructive surgery, which puts another infielder in the mix.

The situation with Mountcastle resolved itself after he fractured his left foot running out a double on April 11 against the Giants. He suffered a severe oblique strain on July 28 while warming for his first rehab game with Triple-A Norfolk, another cruel blow to his career.

Mountcastle stopped by the clubhouse late in the season and just shook his head with the usual boyish grin, as if in disbelief again that his body betrayed him, that his luck kept going from worse to even worse than that. What’s left to say? It just keeps happening.

Easy to forget is the March 11 exhibition game against the Pirates in Sarasota, when Mountcastle was hit by a pitch on the right hand and had to come out. X-rays were negative, and manager Craig Albernaz said Mountcastle wanted to keep playing but was removed as a precaution.

“He’s sore,” Albernaz said after the game. “I mean, he got hit with a baseball, so it feels like he got hit with a baseball.”

So nothing too serious, but a 90.3 mph changeup from right-hander Justin Meis was a painful hint of what awaited him.

At that point, Mountcastle was batting  .296 (8-for-27) with two doubles and two RBIs. He lasted eight games after heading north, going 4-for-14 with the season-ending double.

Mountcastle took an interesting path to becoming an established major leaguer, drafted 36th overall as a shortstop in 2015 and moving to third base and left field before becoming a two-time Gold Glove finalist at first. A few people in the organization expressed their frustration over the delay in abandoning attempts to keep Mountcastle at short, seeing it as a waste of valuable time. His arm didn’t work at third, either, and left field wasn’t a solution. Hard work made him more than serviceable at first.

Also unique was how Mountcastle finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting in the truncated 2020 season and sixth in 2021 after maintaining his eligibility, finishing with 23 doubles, 33 home runs and 89 RBIs in 144 games. He played in 145 games the following season and totaled 28 doubles, 22 homers and 85 RBIs.

The 33 homers set the franchise’s rookie record previously held by Cal Ripken Jr. with 28 in 1982. Eddie Murray had 27 in 1977. Just a couple of Hall of Famers.  

“It was definitely in the back of my head once I started to creep a little closer,” Mountcastle said. “Once the game started, I tried not to think about it. But once it finally happened it was a little bit of a relief and a cool experience.”

The nine RBIs on April 11, 2023 tied the franchise record shared by Murray and Jim Gentile. His 472-foot home run on Aug. 8, 2023 is the longest hit by an Orioles player at Camden Yards since Statcast began tracking.

“I knew I got it pretty good,” Mountcastle said, “and then once it went over the other bullpen, I was a little shocked.”

Injuries began to define Mountcastle, along with the frustration over long fly balls dying short of the new left field wall. Pushing it back seemed to get in his head.

He was floored by the injuries. Hand, forearm, concussion, wrist, elbow, vertigo, illness, shoulder, AC joint, knee, hamstring in 2025 that sidelined him from May 31-Aug. 8, and then the foot and oblique this year.

“Just gonna be where my feet are at and do what I can do and have a good time with my boys,” he said back in February.

“I love all the guys here and this is all I’ve ever known. I love it here and whatever happens, happens.”

He meant how he’d be used after the Alonso signing for $155 million. Now, he could be saying the same about whether he stays or goes.

Longest-tenured Orioles are eyeing the exits. Reliever Keegan Akin, a second-round pick in 2016, is a free agent who underwent Tommy John surgery this summer. His major league debut also came in August 2020. Mountcastle could be moving on after appearing in 660 games and hitting .263/.312/.438 with 126 doubles, five triples, 98 home runs, 364 RBIs and a 7.7 bWAR.

The Orioles also will announce their decision on reliever Dietrich Enns’ $3.5 million option on a contract that includes a $125,000 buyout. And a reminder that the $23.15 million qualifying offer must be made later today. Players traded during the season or who already received one are ineligible.

This brings us back to Trevor Rogers, the team’s only free agent under consideration.

Any player receiving the qualifying offer must make a decision by Nov. 17.