A relaxing weekend ahead, home playoff games incoming, and sorting out the bullpen.
Good Morning, Birdland!
There is officially nothing left for the Orioles to play for in the regular season. Their win on Friday night secured them as the top wild card in the American League. That means they will host all three games of their wild card series against either the Tigers or Royals, whichever team finishes higher in the standings.
Paul covered both of the Orioles’ potential opponents in the Wild Card round earlier this week. The Tigers present a clear challenge since the Orioles just played six games against them, and it did not go great! But the Royals are no slouches, so we aren’t playing favorites. The Orioles are at home and will be able to set their pitching up exactly as they want.
Speaking of which, now that the Orioles have clinched all that they can clinch, it will be interesting to see how Brandon Hyde approaches these final two games of the regular season. There aren’t enough players on the roster to let all of the starters to sit, but he could give some key guys a breather.
Adley Rutschman is the name that sticks out to me as the one to give some time off. It seems like the backstop’s bat is starting to come around at least a little bit (although still lacking power). They need him as close to possible to his 100% self heading into the postseason. But there are likely a ton of guys with nagging issues that the Orioles will know about better than the public. So it’s anyone’s guess as to what they do.
Setting up the pitching is probably more important and straightforward. There is no reason to use Corbin Burnes or Zach Eflin this weekend. Dean Kremer is on track to pitch Sunday, but that would then put him on short-rest for Wednesday, which would be Game 3 of the Wild Card round. If Kremer does pitch Sunday, it will probably be an abbreviated outing with one of the fringier arms following him (Matt Bowman?). But Game 3 could also be an opportunity to handcuff the right-handed Kremer with the left-handed Cade Povich.
There is a built-in off day on Monday, so the O’s don’t have to be overly conservative with the bullpen. No one will be pitching on back-to-back days to begin the playoffs. But again, there could be some guys that are a little sore this weekend, and Hyde will want to stay away from them.
Whatever they do, just stay healthy, rack up some stats, and stay on an upward trend going into October.
Links
This, that and the other | Roch Kubatko
Keegan Akin is a good example of how sneaky good certain aspects of the Orioles’ bullpen has been. No, they do not have Félix Bautista, and Seranthony Domínguez is a heart attack waiting to happen, but there are guys capable of being lights out.
O’s looking forward to more October baseball at Camden Yards | Orioles.com
Camden Yards always looks good, but there is something special about it glad in the postseason livery. Why couldn’t this be the team bring it the first World Series games in its history?
What we learned about the Orioles’ bullpen this week in New York | The Baltimore Banner
The biggest thing for the bullpen is that it’s healthy. Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb are back and going to throw high-leverage innings in October. It would be nice to have first-half Craig Kimbrel still, but he is long, long gone. That is as much as they can ask for this time of year.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Mike DeJean turns 54 today. He spent part of the 2004 season in Baltimore before he was traded to the Mets for outfielder Karim Garcia.
- The late Tood Frohwirth (b. 1962, d. 2017) was born on this day. From 1991 through ‘93 he had a 2.71 ERA over 298.2 relief innings.
- A posthumous birthday for Grant Jackson (b. 1942, d. 2021). He had a six-season stint with the Orioles from 1971 though ‘76. Over 333.1 innings he had a 2.81 ERA.
This day in history
1953 – The American League owners unanimously approve the Browns franchise to move from St. Louis to Baltimore. The team had just wrapped a 54-100 season that saw them draw the lowest attendance in the league.
1958 – Orioles catcher Gus Triandos steals the first and only base of his entire 13-season career. He will go on to play 1,206 consecutive games without ever being caught stealing.
1971 – The Orioles finish the season with 108 wins, becoming only the third team to ever win 100 or more games in three straight seasons.
2011 – One of the most incredible final days of a baseball season ever. The Orioles contribute by coming back top beat Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox 4-3. That, paired with an improbable Rays win, keeps the collapsing BoSox out of the postseason.
2023 – The Orioles earn their 100th win of the season, passing that milestone for first time since 1980 and snagging their first AL East title since 2014.