​Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, our ongoing survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year, we pose questions to the most plugged-in Orioles fans and to supporters from around the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. Now 95 games into the 2026 season, the Orioles have continued to struggle, showing little of the consistency fans hoped for. They haven’t managed to click and assemble a squad that reaches or surpasses expectations, and with time slipping away, a late-season surge is their only real path to October glory. To reach that goal, they may need to sustain a roughly .600 pace for the remainder of the year, a formidable challenge that would put their playoff hopes in the balance.
In this week’s survey, I kept the question simple: can they pull it off? Will they reach the postseason? I’ve found that optimism tends to show up more often in these polls than I expect, yet this particular team has managed to dampen even that enthusiasm: a crushing majority of respondents doubt the Orioles’ chances. The numbers align with common postseason projections, which place their odds somewhere in the single digits to mid-teens. Just 12% of fans believe they will make the playoffs, a figure that matches the lower end of most forecasts. It isn’t that the Orioles can’t win enough games to contend; it’s that the path remains improbable. Their recent history—without a streak of more than three consecutive victories—illustrates how difficult it will be to reverse course in time. The clock is ticking, and turning this season around hinges on a dramatic and sustained turnaround that seems increasingly unlikely.
This week’s survey is sponsored by FanDuel.