The Orioles are in a better position now than they were last year at this time, but they remain a team with one more loss than win. They’ve played like the .500 team their record reflects — encouraging moments followed by head-shaking displays, creating a rather middling beginning to the season.

The players say there is no panic that a repeat of 2025 will come to fruition. And on Friday, ahead of Baltimore’s first American League East matchup, president of baseball operations Mike Elias publicly supported the team.

When asked why he believes this version of the Orioles won’t spiral the way last year’s did, Elias said it starts with the group he assembled, including manager Craig Albernaz.

“Just what we’re seeing, the operation, the talent level on the team, the mix of guys we have. I think we did — I hope we did — a better job putting the roster together this year,” Elias said. “Our young guys, having gone through that experience last year, I think they’re much more steeled against it, and very, very hopeful that they’re not going to allow something like that to happen. But I’m bullish about the team. I think that we’re moving in the right direction and it’s not all going to be instantaneous, but I hope to see our record improve over the next month or so.”

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The Orioles are fortunate, in a sense, that almost the entire American League has started slowly. The New York Yankees have a 2 1/2-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the East, but the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox are off to worse starts than Baltimore. And only six of the 15 American League clubs are above .500.

That can only mean so much, though. The Orioles are waiting on some of their key bats to pick up, although they still have produced a middle-of-the-pack offense. The rotation hasn’t worked deep into games at a frequent rate, and the defense has been shaky.

This month, Albernaz said that “defense hasn’t really been in the forefront here for a long time, and that’s something we’re instilling.” The work continues before each game.

When asked directly about Albernaz’s comments, Elias said there is no doubt that previous iterations of the Orioles cared about playing strong defense. But he acknowledged that Albernaz, joining from the Cleveland Guardians, may have “best practices that we can apply in the front office, and we’re collaborating with him on that.”

“I think this staff, they’re doing a lot to address where we position, how we prepare our players,” Elias said. “I agree with him that that’s an area where this team can stand to improve, and we’re putting a lot of work into it.”

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Entering Friday’s game, the Orioles ranked as a below-average team in the Statcast defensive metrics outs above average and defensive runs saved.

Last year, the Orioles never recovered from their poor start. This year’s club has shown more fight, however, even if that hasn’t turned into a robust beginning to the season in the win-loss record.

Of their 12 wins, eight have been of the come-from-behind variety. And, once more facets of the team begin to play in rhythm, Elias said, the positives will translate more clearly into wins.

“I think the effort and character and resiliency we’re seeing out on the field is good,” Elias said. “But I think the flow of the play, there’s a lot that we can do to be more consistent and kind of clean it up and get working better as a machine. That’s a process for a lot of teams early, it seems like, this year, and I count us amongst them. We’re OK, but we wish we were doing better.”