The Orioles recognize this isn’t going swimmingly. For now, they say treading water is OK.

When asked in general about how he views the state of the team after 25 games, left-hander Trevor Rogers brought up last season on his own. As the Orioles begin an uneven 2026 campaign, it’s natural to compare — to worry that this is all following a similar path.

The Orioles are 12-13. They have shown such a wide range of performances that it’s almost impossible to know the true identity of the team. In conversations with those in the clubhouse, familiar characterizations arose: It’s a team not yet firing on all cylinders; they’re finding their footing; or, as right-hander Chris Bassitt described it, Baltimore is experiencing “growing pains.”

For as much as the Orioles changed over the winter — many new players, a new coaching staff — the reality of a Major League Baseball pressure cooker means results matter as much now as they do later. And, given how Baltimore learned that lesson the hard way, 2025 isn’t far from any minds, even if Orioles players and coaches don’t often admit it.

“We were kind of around that record last year at this time, and we all know what happened after that,” Rogers said.

The Orioles have won two more games through 25 games than last year’s iteration — and Rogers wasn’t even with the club yet. He began 2025 in Triple-A before bursting onto the scene as one of the best starters in baseball. But he was in Baltimore for the aftermath of that slow start. He knows the stories. He knows the cost of losing — a fired manager, a trade deadline sell-off.

“I think everyone in this room doesn’t think that’s going to happen again,” Rogers said. “If we can tread water, play .500 baseball the rest of this month, once the weather starts getting consistent, gets to actual baseball weather every single day, I think we’re going to be in a really good spot.”

But why? What fills this group with the belief that this year is different?

The reasons differ from player to player, but the general theme is one of poise.

Rogers said there is “no panic,” and the eight comeback wins out of 12 victories support that claim. Bassitt said the Orioles feel as though they’re on the right path and that more consistent results will come.

Shortstop Gunnar Henderson said “it’s only a matter of time before we all click” on offense. Manager Craig Albernaz said “development is messy,” and just because spring training is over doesn’t mean his players aren’t working every day to improve.

“Every time we show up, we’re trying to go 1-0,” said Albernaz, who is managing in the majors for the first time. “We’re trying to win today. And to me it’s not spiraling in the sense some teams do. On our end we’re just trying to win today, and if we don’t win then we’re trying to win the next day. There’s no thought about the previous day, the previous series. Just how we’re going to attack day to day.”

The need for improvement, in certain areas, is abundantly clear.

Entering Thursday, which the Orioles had off following a 3-4 road trip in Cleveland and Kansas City, Baltimore ranked in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories, including on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.701, 19th) and runs scored (111, 16th). But the Orioles strike out at an elevated rate (24.8%, 4th), and some of their best players have not played like it.

Henderson is batting .189, although his power numbers raise his OPS to .712. Pete Alonso, signed to a five-year deal, has a .700 OPS. Five regulars are hitting under .200.

“A lot of guys, and myself included big time, aren’t hitting the ball like the way they want to right now,” Henderson said.

In many cases, though, the pitching staff has kept Baltimore in games to where that offense still has a chance. That’s especially the case from the bullpen, which carries a 3.58 ERA and has been “probably the anchor so far,” Rogers said.

The Orioles’ rotation hasn’t fared as well. Its 4.37 ERA ranks 21st in baseball, and Rogers and right-hander Shane Baz are the only starters who have completed six innings at least twice.

And, for all the talk of fundamental baseball over the winter and throughout spring training, there have been clear deficiencies.

The baserunning hasn’t rated well. According to FanGraphs’ weighted stolen base and caught stealing runs above average, the Orioles are 28th at minus-1.5. On defense, the Orioles are below average in Statcast’s outs above average and fielding run value. Those are two similar measures that rank a defense’s range ability and all-around efficiency, and Baltimore sits minus-4 in both.

This month, after a win against the Chicago White Sox, Albernaz said the work to create a better defensive product is ongoing.

“Defense hasn’t really been in the forefront here for a long time, and that’s something we’re instilling,” Albernaz said. “Like, defense matters. It’s going to be messy. We’ve shown flashes of playing great defense, and we’ve also shown flashes of not playing great defense, so for the players, it’s keep on working, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Before almost every game, Baltimore’s infielders are working with coach Miguel Cairo and the outfielders are training with Jason Bourgeois. The defensive work has been far more frequent than in recent years.

And in the minors it appears as though Baltimore is putting more emphasis on fundamentals at an earlier age.

The club hired Mike Shildt as a player development coach and promoted Samuel Vega to the lower-level minor league coordinator of instruction. Both roles are somewhat vague in their responsibilities, but Shildt said at the forefront of his mind is creating uniformity in instruction from the majors through the minors, and that includes “making sure fundamentally and physically they’re in a good spot.”

That way, once prospects arrive in the majors, the learning curve may be lessened.

But that doesn’t change how Baltimore’s current major leaguers are operating, and it’s not always crisply.

Henderson said the defensive gaffes aren’t entirely a surprise, given how early it is in the season, “but it’s getting to that time where it’s about time to start securing all that stuff and making the routine plays. And, obviously, being in the right spots and stuff, it’s time we start doing that.”

To Bassitt, the disconnect between spring training talking points and early-season execution is common as players get into the rhythm of the season.

“You try to add all these things in spring training,” Bassitt said. “You try to talk about it all in spring training, but the reality of all that is, you’re sitting there in spring training and games don’t matter and pitchers aren’t where they’re supposed to be, and you’re still basically getting out of the fog of the offseason, so you’re not able to work on things you need to work on.”

Bassitt said the new coaching staff is aiming to create a new culture. When asked for specific examples, Bassitt hedged. But in general terms, he said, “we’re trying to change a lot of things behind the scenes.”

That includes game planning tendencies for pitchers and hitters. For instance, outfielder Colton Cowser’s recent batting cage work may only now be showing results, but he and the hitting coaches have tried to undo an offseason tweak that proved counterproductive in his swing.

Those hours aren’t seen, and production may not be immediate. In a marathon of a season, though, it could click at the right time.

“We’re trying to do a lot of different things we haven’t really done here, and it takes time,” said Bassitt, who was signed over the winter. “You have a bunch of guys here who are new and who are bringing in things they think need to be done. I would say, it’s just time. It’s not trying to force results right now. We’re obviously trying to win every game right now. There’s no doubt about it. …

“But at the end of the day, as long as we’re going in the right direction, I’m happy. And I think we’re going in the right direction. It’s just, we have to win more games. There’s no doubt about it. I don’t think anyone’s happy with our record. But the actual process and the actual way we’re approaching games and the way we’re talking behind the scenes, the way we’re game planning for games, I think it’s in a lot better spot than it was. So I’m overall satisfied. I’m not happy, but I’m satisfied with how things are going.”

Has that process improved even in the first month of the season?

“They’re getting better; they’re improving,” Bassitt said. “I don’t think they’re there. But they’re better than what they were a month or two ago, so it’s, again, you’re trying to build something great, and it’s not something that can just be forced within two or three weeks.”

That leads to what the Orioles are seeing now, which right-hander Ryan Helsley aptly described as a search for “how we can get three-quarters of our team clicking at once so we’re winning multiple games a series.”

Many nights, it seems the Orioles are more disjointed. They are playing as a .500 team does — one step forward, one step back.

In a sense, that’s better than how Baltimore played last season, when the club’s record dropped to 12-18 at the end of April. Less than a month later, Brandon Hyde was fired as manager.

That season was lost early. The Orioles vowed to make a quick turnaround, although the early part of 2026 hasn’t been a rousing success. And whether they really are on the right path, as they say they are, remains to be seen.

“Baseball is a really frustrating game, and when we throw the ball well, we can’t score, and when we score, we’re having a tough time putting that together,” Rogers said. “And, when we do, we’re really good. It’s there. The most boring answer is you’ve just got to keep playing and the train is going to get on the tracks and it’s going to stay on the tracks.”