NEW YORK — As the trade deadline approached three years ago, there was a “similar vibe” around the Orioles clubhouse to this year, Cedric Mullins said. The outfielder has been around long enough to compare then and now, and he feels it — a team fighting to get into contention, with the belief that, given time, it’s possible.

In 2022 general manager Mike Elias decided to trade away expiring contracts at the deadline. The team finished three games behind the Rays for the final wild-card spot but did acquire a valuable member of future teams in Yennier Cano, along with pitching prospects Cade Povich, Chayce McDermott and Seth Johnson.

In 2025, there’s no telling yet what Elias will do when the trade deadline arrives at the end of July. The feeling remains, however. Baltimore’s players would like the chance to stick together.

“You want to stay with the group as much as you can,” Mullins said. “It’s a great group of guys. You come to get to know these guys, their families, things of that nature. You build those relationships that you want to last.”

Still, they aren’t delusional about the reality of Major League Baseball.

“We understand the business side of things,” Mullins said. “That doesn’t stop us from fighting.”

The Orioles are 11 games under .500 (33-44), firmly in the basement of the American League East. There are reasonable arguments to be made in favor of selling players with expiring contracts, such as Mullins, All-Star hopeful Ryan O’Hearn, right-handers Zach Eflin and Charlie Morton, and a host of bullpen arms.

The last wild-card spot, though? Baltimore is 6.5 games back of the final postseason place. The players view that as something to which they can still steer, if given the opportunity.

“We’re not out of playoff contention by any means,” right-hander Bryan Baker said. “There’s still a lot of baseball left, and it’s a game of momentum, so I think we’re going to get rolling and turn things around and look back in a few months and laugh kind of at where we’re at right now.”

One can assume Baker means they’ll laugh because the Orioles are in an improved position, but there’s still the matter of the trade deadline to consider. Between now and July 31, Baltimore has 31 games to play. To reach .500 by the trade deadline, the Orioles will need to win 21 of those games.

That would be a .677 winning percentage (21-10) — a tall task, even for a team performing better of late.

Including Sunday’s loss to the New York Yankees, the Orioles are 17-10 in their last 27 games (a .630 winning percentage).

“Honestly, I feel like we’ve been showing it these last weeks or month,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said when asked what the Orioles must do to prove to the front office that a trade deadline sale isn’t the right path forward. “I feel like we’ve kind of hit our stride a little bit. We still have a lot of room to go, but we’ve been making strides in the right direction and we’ve won a decent amount of games.”

Of course, the Orioles might not need to be exactly .500 at the end of July to convince Elias that standing pat — let alone buying — is the right trade deadline approach. Currently, the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Guardians are tied for the final wild-card spot. Both are two games over .500.

“You come to get to know these guys, their families, things of that nature. You build those relationships that you want to last.”

Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins

That knowledge has influenced how interim manager Tony Mansolino chooses a lineup. Infielder Coby Mayo, for instance, hasn’t received everyday playing time despite Ryan Mountcastle’s long-term hamstring injury. Asked what factored into the limited playing time for Mayo lately, Mansolino said the lineup he wrote out Sunday is the one he felt “was the best lineup to win Game 3 in New York.”

“We’re trying to win, and we’re trying to develop,” Mansolino said. “I think, if we went full-blown development right here in June, when that third wild-card spot is floating around .500, I don’t know if that’s the right decision for the Baltimore Orioles and the city of Baltimore and the fans.”

There could be a time — and it could be soon — when development is the focus. If Baltimore doesn’t appear to have a good chance at a postseason berth, Elias may follow a similar path to 2022, when the Orioles were 53-51 at the deadline and still traded away pieces, prioritizing what 2023 had in store.

For now, though, the Orioles aren’t focused on 2026. They see a path toward the playoffs, and they hope the front office does, too.

“It just boils down to kind of where we stand when we get to that point,” Mullins said of the deadline. “I think, inside the clubhouse, it’s pretty obvious, we’ve gotta be shooting for a wild-card spot. I think that’s the goal, that’s what we’re aiming for every single day.”