For the earlier six years — and 34 of the previous 40 — this is able to’ve been it.
The Major League Baseball common season ended Sunday, with the vast majority of groups enjoying their closing recreation of the 12 months.
Not the Orioles.
They performed their 162nd recreation Sunday afternoon — an inconsequential 6-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Camden Yards — and in contrast to most years previously 4 a long time, baseball in Baltimore is way from over this fall.
The Orioles, the American League East champions for the primary time since 2014, get 5 days off — as many they’ve had the previous eight weeks mixed — after ending the common season with the circuit’s finest report at 101-61. The solely workforce within the main leagues with a greater mark are the National League-best Atlanta Braves, who entered Sunday 104-57.
Baltimore will play the winner of the wild-card collection between the American League’s Nos. 4 and 5 seeds. The Tampa Bay Rays, the workforce the Orioles beat out for the AL East crown, are the No. 4 seed and can host the fifth-seeded Texas Rangers, who fell out of the No. 2 seed and didn’t seize the AL West with a 1-0 loss to the Mariners on Sunday, within the best-of-three wild-card collection. The AL West champion Houston Astros additionally earned a bye because the No. 2 seed and within the ALDS will face the winner of the wild-card collection between the third-seeded Minnesota Twins and sixth-seeded Toronto Blue Jays.
“I feel like every team is really good, and every team has their strength,” supervisor Brandon Hyde mentioned earlier than he discovered who the Orioles may play within the ALDS. “They’re all going to be really hard teams to play, Tampa included, as we saw this year. To get this far and to win as many games as these teams have done and the lineups they put out there — we’re going to face really good pitching also, whoever we play — it’s going to be a real challenge.”
The ALDS begins Saturday with Game 1 at Camden Yards, which would be the membership’s first playoff recreation since 2016 and first at Oriole Park since 2014. The recreation time has but to be introduced. Games 2 and 5 (the latter if mandatory) will likely be in Baltimore subsequent Sunday and Oct. 13, whereas Games 3 and 4 (the latter if wanted) will likely be on the street Oct. 10-11.
With the Orioles getting into the weekend with the American League’s finest report in hand, they despatched out an unconventional lineup Friday and pre-planned how their pitching workers would deal with the 9 innings on Saturday and Sunday. Ace Kyle Bradish pitched simply two innings Sunday, as Hyde mentioned the aim was to “keep his routine going,” maybe in preparation to begin Game 1 on Saturday.
Bradish was his traditional self, putting out 5 in two no-hit innings to bolster his case for the AL Cy Young. New York Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole has an inside observe to the award, in line with Vegas sportsbooks, however Bradish will possible obtain votes in simply his second big-league season.
The 27-year-old ends his regular-season marketing campaign with a 12-7 report in 30 begins. Across 168 2/3 innings, he posted a 2.83 ERA with a 1.04 WHIP and 168 strikeouts. He emerged this summer season because the Orioles’ ace, as his second-half ERA of two.34 is finest within the majors forward of Cole (2.35) and teammate Grayson Rodriguez (2.58).
Like Friday’s 3-0 loss, Baltimore’s bats had been chilly. Unlike Saturday’s 5-2 win, they didn’t get away late. Red Sox right-hander Tanner Houck didn’t enable successful till Anthony Santander recorded Baltimore’s first hit with two outs within the sixth inning. The Orioles’ solely different knock got here on Adley Rutschman’s RBI single within the eighth.
Santander ends his common season with a .797 OPS with a team-high 95 RBIs, and his 28 homers tied Gunnar Henderson, who was named the Most Valuable Oriole on Saturday, for many on the squad. Rutschman ends his sophomore common season with a team-best .374 on-base share, 20 dwelling runs and 80 RBIs.
Five of the Red Sox’s six runs had been unearned, because the Orioles’ usually sure-handed protection was sloppy. Three errors, two made by Henderson, aided the Red Sox to a two-run third off reliever Danny Coulombe and a four-run seventh off left-hander Cionel Pérez.
Hyde mentioned the Orioles will take Monday off and maintain exercises Tuesday via Friday. When they return to the sector Saturday, Camden Yards will likely be packed and prepared for playoff baseball.
This story will likely be up to date.
ALDS, Game 1
Rays/Blue Jays at Orioles
Saturday, TBA
TV: Fox or FS1
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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