It’s not a good sign that the Orioles’ efforts at the trade deadline make me reflect on the end of the world.

One of the most infamous doomsday prophets in American history was the Oakland, California-based evangelist Harold Camping. Spouting from AM radio and highway billboards, he told everyone who cared to listen (and a lot of people who didn’t) that the apocalypse would happen on a Saturday: May 21, 2011.

The date came and went, and nothing much happened in the way of global disaster. Flabbergasted, Camping redid his biblically inspired calculations. Turns out, he said, the apocalypse was still nigh — only five months later.

Thinking about the Orioles makes me feel a little bit like one of Camping’s apostles, waiting for the big day and watching the timeline keep sliding back. The biggest difference is, instead of waiting for the world to end, we’re all waiting for Baltimore’s big playoff push to begin.

I’m not ready to say Mike Elias and his front office are incapable of steering the Orioles out of the nosedive they took this season, but it’s not a reach to say we are close to a final verdict. Just weeks ago, Elias adamantly promised the franchise was planning to be competitive again in 2026. As the dust settles from one of the team’s wildest trade deadlines ever, you scratch your head wondering how that will happen.

Don’t worry, the Orioles will say, just wait five more months.

Baltimore dealt nine major leaguers and got none in return. Only one, Cameron Foster, has even played in Triple-A.

A deal that sums up the approach: For Andrew Kittredge, an experienced reliever the O’s could have brought back next year on a team option, the Orioles got 17-year-old infield prospect Wilfri De La Cruz, whom MLB Pipeline estimates will make his debut in 2030.

You can’t take all these deals at face value. The justification the front office will use is that this deadline rebuilt its war chest, prospects it can move this offseason for pieces that will help the team win in 2026. The Orioles needed trade chips, the logic goes; now they have some.

But aside from trading for Corbin Burnes — a deal so singular for this franchise that it has never been repeated — what have the Orioles done as buyers that has been so spectacular? What gives us the confidence that Elias is a wheel-and-deal guy who can spin these prospects into a formidable pitching staff this winter?

No one who has followed this team for a while was surprised the Orioles were able to squeeze this much minor league value out of the deadline. Their dwindling farm coffers are almost fully restored. But of course they are, because dealing for prospects is this front office’s comfort zone.

Team officials know how to evaluate live-armed pitchers who have promising movement on their fastballs and position players with fixable hitches in their swing. You could argue there’s nothing the Orioles have been better at than hoarding value in sell-off trades.

That’s not why confidence is waning in this front office. All the doubts hinge on whether it has the juice to make the Orioles leap forward to World Series contender.

We shouldn’t dismiss that Baltimore won 192 games in a two-season span, but the record that everyone will remember from those years is 0-5. This season was supposed to be a breakthrough — it has turned into a breakdown. You can’t separate that disappointment from any potential solution.

With their failure this past offseason, the people in the front office severely undermined the belief that they are the right guys to lead the Orioles out of the wilderness. Elias has promised internal changes, but aside from firing Brandon Hyde in May, we’ve yet to see any external signs that the team is conducting business differently.

The Orioles placed ticket holders considering whether to renew their (costlier) Birdland memberships in a tough spot. They’ve promised that next year will be another competitive year, and with franchise tentpoles Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday in place, there’s still a lot of talent in the clubhouse.

But, in trading players like Kittredge and Ramón Laureano who were under team control, they’ve left more gaps in the 2026 depth chart than they started with. In renovating the roster, they’ve taken sledgehammers to the walls while asking us to imagine what it will look like when they spackle over the holes left behind.

Yes the team is hitting better, but what does the starting rotation look like next year? Who is going to be in the bullpen?

Imagine trying to decide whether to buy a renovated suite package with the Orioles in this condition. It’s going to feel sickening to shell out thousands of dollars for great seats if you’re not sure which side of .500 the team will be on at next year’s deadline.

There’s only so far you can drag this fan base before it just feels like endlessly kicking the can down the road. The Orioles are set up for a monster offseason, but aside from Burnes, so few of their offseason moves have ever blown anyone’s hair back.

It’s as if Elias, fresh off another one of the sell-offs he has run so smoothly, is trying to convince us that he’ll morph into a big-game hunter like the Padres’ A.J. Preller. Even though that kind of metamorphosis might be necessary to save his job for another year, I think we’d all be shocked if it happened. As much as Elias may promise to show a different side of himself and this organization, fans need more evidence that things are going that direction.

The days of selling promise are nearing an end. Elias’ tenure is not going to be judged on how many of these 16 prospects matriculate to the big leagues — he’ll be judged on the Orioles’ 2026 record and whether next year’s start is a whole lot better than this season.

It’s not the end of the world at stake, but it does feel like this trade deadline puts the front office on the brink. Instead of getting ahead of business, Elias and company have left all their work for the winter, when they have to be major players or consign this team to another year of irrelevance.

A compelling vision may grant you some patience from the faithful. But, sooner or later, for prophets and executives alike, the time to deliver runs out.