Orioles drop back to Baltimore for Beltways battle

Orioles-Nationals series – The Orioles return home after a West Coast swing and find themselves six games under .500, still two games behind the final AL playoff spot. They’ll face the Nationals in the second “Battle of the Beltways” of the season—one rivalry that has swung between hear

When the Orioles left Baltimore for their three-series West Coast swing against the Mariners, Dodgers and Angels, they were five games under .500 and two games out of a Wild Card spot.

Six games under .500 now. they still sit two games out of the final AL playoff spot—returning to Camden Yards with the same frustrating feeling Birdland has come to recognize. The homecoming doesn’t come with an easy reset, either. Their next chance to build momentum (and likely stumble into it) comes against the Nationals.

Washington arrives in a similar spot. The Nationals are at .500, but a stacked National League has them three games outside the NL playoff picture. The matchup also has extra bite because it already produced a clear pattern of emotional whiplash earlier this season—just a few hours down the road in DC.

This will be the second “Battle of the Beltways” of 2026. In the series at the Nationals earlier in May, the Orioles dropped two out of three. The first loss came with a kind of inevitability that fans dread: the Orioles lost 3-2 in a game where they failed to take advantage of a starting pitcher with a 6.00+ ERA. and they didn’t score until the 9th inning.

Then came a different kind of punishment. In Game 2, a seven-run 7th inning turned a 4-3 close game into a 13-3 blowout.

But the third game didn’t match the script at all. The offense came alive from the first inning, the Orioles raced out to an early 6-2 lead, and they coasted to a 7-3 win behind Brandon Young and the bullpen.

Since that series, both teams have hovered around .500, stuck without a firm foothold in their league’s playoff race. The Orioles are 17-18 in the month-plus since their last meeting with the Nationals. and they’ve never gotten closer to .500 than two games under. The Nationals are 18-17 across their 35 games since facing the Orioles. and while they reached four games above .500 at one point. they’ve lost five or six of their last eight.

Camden Yards has been the one familiar comfort. Prior to last season, the Orioles were 9-5 against the Nationals at Camden Yards in the Mike Elias era. Last May. though. the Nationals swept the Orioles in Baltimore. including a first game that marked the last game of Brandon Hyde’s tenure with the team.

This year, the Orioles will need to return the favor if they want their season to end with anything like a winning record against their National League neighbors.

Game 1 kicks off Friday, June 26th at 7:05pm ET. The probable matchup is LHP Trevor Rogers (4-7, 5.30 ERA, 54 K) versus TBD. The game is set to air on MASN/MASN+.

Rogers has become the kind of starter whose flashes feel like they belong to a different version of the Orioles—one that shows up. and stays. In May, he posted a 10.31 ERA in 18.1 innings across four starts. This month, the cracks are closing into something that looks like ace form. Over his last four outings. Rogers has an ERA of 2.22. is averaging just over six innings per start. and is holding opposing hitters to a .195 average. His most recent outing came in Dodger Stadium. where he held the two-time defending champions to one hit and two walks over seven scoreless innings.

There’s history in Washington, too, but it’s limited. Rogers has one career appearance against the Nationals as an Oriole, back in 2024. In his third start after coming over from the Marlins, the Nationals battered Rogers for 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB and 2 K.

In his 10 career starts against Washington with the Marlins. Rogers typically looked like the steady version of himself—posting a 3.35 ERA with a .234 BAA. Still, this season’s matchup leans toward uncertainty, and it isn’t just about him. The Nationals have crushed left-handed pitching this year, leading MLB with a .274 average and .793 OPS versus southpaws. That OPS drops to .752 against left-handed starters.

The Nationals hadn’t announced their starter at the time of writing. but a left-hander named Andrew Alvarez is expected to make his first career start against Baltimore. The 27-year-old from Cal Poly relies heavily on his curveball and slider, throwing them a combined 47% of the time. Any time a lefty is on the mound is typically a matchup swing for 3B Coby Mayo. The 24-year-old has a 1.111 OPS versus LHPs and is one of the best hitters in baseball against southpaws.

Saturday, June 27th at 7:05pm ET is Game 2, again on MASN/MASN+. The probable pitchers are RHP Brandon Young (6-2, 3.07 ERA, 49 K) versus TBD.

Young has served a role that almost sounds unrealistic until you check the numbers: the pitcher who comes out of nowhere to become the most consistent arm in Baltimore. After an abbreviated start against the Nationals back in May, the 27-year-old Texan has been steadier than ever. In six outings since, he has five quality starts, a 2.15 ERA, a .219 BAA, and is averaging 6.1 IP per start.

For the Orioles, Young’s starts have often looked like a head start. Baltimore is 10-2 in games started by Young this season, 5-1 at Camden Yards, and the Orioles are on a four-game win streak when Young takes the mound at home.

This time, the matchup is strength against strength. Young’s four-seam fastball has been one of the best heaters in baseball this season. ranking ninth in Run Value and 16th in BAA among 212 qualified pitchers. But CJ Abrams and James Wood have both crushed fastballs for Washington this year—Abrams ranking third and Wood ranking 14th in Run Value produced against four-seamers.

Washington’s counter could come from journeyman right-hander Foster Griffin. The 30-year-old spent the last three years in Japan and is now in the first extended run of his Major League career. Before going to Japan, Griffin posted a 6.75 ERA in eight career MLB innings. This season with Washington, Griffin has a 3.15 ERA in 91.1 innings and leads all Nationals pitchers with a 2.3 bWAR. He throws as a soft-tosser lefty. has led with his cutter most of the year. and features a true seven-pitch mix.

Sunday, June 28th at 1:35pm ET brings Game 3 on MASN/MASN+. The probable starter is RHP Kyle Bradish (5-7, 3.64 ERA, 94 K) versus TBD.

Bradish hasn’t carried the same steady June profile as Rogers or Young. but he’s entering Sunday with the strongest two-start stretch of his career. Nine days ago in Seattle. Bradish delivered a line of 7.2 IP. 5 H. 1 ER. 2 BB and 12 Ks. with those 12 strikeouts setting a new career-high for the 29-year-old. Then he one-upped that performance against the Dodgers, pitching eight shutout innings with nine Ks against the defending champs. The last two starts are the first time in Bradish’s career that he’s pitched into the 8th inning in back-to-back outings.

Sunday will also mark Bradish’s first face-to-face with the Nationals since before his elbow injury in 2024. In his second start of the 2024 season. he held Washington to one run on four hits over five innings with nine Ks. It was the first time he’d allowed a run against Washington. after he previously combined for 14 innings of shutout baseball across two starts versus the Nationals in 2023.

To oppose Bradish, the Nationals could turn to former Ray Zack Littell or make Sunday a bullpen game. Littell pitched well against the Orioles back in May. holding the O’s scoreless over five innings while allowing only two hits. Washington has used Littell four times this season as the follower to an opener. including his most recent appearances against the Phillies. when he allowed two runs over four innings in a 14-9 loss.

Between the Orioles’ 2026 home-and-road contradictions and the Nationals’ ability to flip outcomes—one inning at a time—this series doesn’t feel like a simple test. It feels like another chapter in the same story: whether the Orioles can turn talent and timing into something that lasts.

Tell us in the comments whether the Orioles can even the score against the Nationals—or whether this weekend turns into another disappointing one at Camden Yards.

Orioles Nationals Battle of the Beltways Camden Yards Trevor Rogers Brandon Young Kyle Bradish Andrew Alvarez CJ Abrams James Wood Coby Mayo