In one month, Orioles president of baseball operations/general manager Mike Elias will greet the media on the first day of spring training in Sarasota and recite the list of injuries and other health updates that he’s asked to provide. There’s usually a surprise or two, like Trevor Rogers’ right knee subluxation last February. Infielder Jorge Mateo wasn’t expected to be ready for Opening Day while recovering from elbow-reconstructive surgery. Optimism ran much higher with closer Félix Bautista, though his build-up would come at a slower pace.

Mateo and Bautista convinced the Orioles that they didn’t need to go on the injured list. Mateo was more of a last-minute call.

The unexpected absences really hurt. Gunnar Henderson strained his right intercostal. Andrew Kittredge had a left knee debridement. Grayson Rodriguez lost velocity, experienced discomfort in his elbow, triceps and lat, and didn’t pitch. Chayce McDermott couldn’t compete in camp due to a right lat strain. And the sky kept falling.

The Orioles didn’t make it out of Toronto without losing reliever Albert Suárez to right shoulder inflammation and outfielder Colton Cowser to a fractured left thumb. A tone was set and it shattered eardrums.

Henderson returned on April 4 and Zach Eflin was sidelined five days later with a right lat strain. That’s how it worked in 2025. Gain one and lose one. Gain one and lose two.

Henderson led the team with 154 games played and Jackson Holliday was next with 149, somehow managing to avoid the IL. Cowser was third with 92 despite also being sidelined with a concussion. Adley Rutschman strained both obliques and was fourth with only 90.

A year earlier, Ryan O’Hearn was sixth in games played with 142 and Cedric Mullins was fifth with 147.

The 2025 season has been put to bed, though it’s likely to wake up with a stiff neck.  

April
Cody Poteet (shoulder inflammation)
Tyler O’Neill (neck inflammation)
Jordan Westburg (strained hamstring)
Gary Sánchez (wrist inflammation)

May
Ramón Urías (strained hamstring)
Tyler O’Neill (left shoulder impingement)
Ramón Laureano (left ankle sprain)
Cedric Mullins (right hamstring strain)
Ryan Mountcastle (right hamstring strain)

June
Jorge Mateo (left elbow inflammation)
Cade Povich (left hip inflammation)
Adley Rutschman (strained left oblique)
Maverick Handley (concussion)
Zach Eflin (lower back discomfort)

July
Chadwick Tromp (lower back strain)
Keegan Akin (left shoulder inflammation)
Gary Sánchez (sprained right knee)
Scott Blewett (right elbow discomfort)
Félix Bautista (right shoulder discomfort)
Colin Selby (left hamstring strain)
Zach Eflin (lower back discomfort)

August
Tyler O’Neill (right wrist inflammation)
Colton Cowser (concussion)
Adley Rutschman (strained right oblique)
Brandon Young (strained left hamstring)
Jordan Westburg (sprained right ankle)

September
Shawn Dubin (right elbow discomfort)
Albert Suárez (right elbow discomfort)
Chayce McDermott (back discomfort)

Also worthy of mention are how Cowser played through a couple small rib fractures and Henderson said last week that he had a shoulder impingement “pretty much for three-quarters of the year.” And those August surgeries that finished Eflin, Bautista and Rodriguez.

The season felt like it already was done when the Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde on May 17. It won’t get much better for the Orioles in 2026 if they keep losing players again, no matter how much they improve the depth.

Some guys are more irreplaceable than others.

The lineup is much more potent and the leadership much more pronounced with Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward, but the Orioles need more than 92 games from Cowser, 90 from Rutschman, 85 from Westburg and 54 from O’Neill. They can’t spend another season playing roster roulette and challenging the franchise-record of 70 players.  

Anything approaching normal should suffice. Is that asking too much?