The Orioles have checked their first two 2026 boxes with Opening Day and a much-needed break before today’s game against the Twins at Camden Yards, where temperatures won’t escape the 40s.

Kyle Bradish starts for the Orioles, his seventh since returning from ligament-reconstructive elbow surgery.

Pete Alonso will receive his Silver Slugger Award in a pregame ceremony. The first 15,000 fans will receive a Bradish jersey hoodie, which should come in handy on a cold day.

Time is running out to be reflective on Thursday’s 2-1 win. The Orioles must move on from it.

We don’t.

Trevor Rogers still looks like an ace.

Was Rogers at his best on Thursday? No one thought so, including the reigning Most Valuable Oriole. He was responsible for eight of the nine baserunners against him in seven innings, a dropped fly ball increasing his total. The traffic looked like rush hour on I-95. But how many runs did the Twins score against him?

A grand total of zero.

Three double plays bailed him out, but he induced those ground balls.

Rogers became only the eighth pitcher in Orioles history to toss at least seven scoreless innings on Opening Day, a list that includes Hall of Famer Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.

“That’s what an ace does,” said manager Craig Albernaz. “He goes out there and sets the tone.”

Rogers posted a 1.81 ERA in his 18 starts last season, so some level of regression is expected. A sub-2.00 over a full season is a big ask. But the wheels aren’t coming off the cart. He’s apparently going to keep motoring along.

How much can we read into the lineup?

The Twins started right-hander Joe Ryan on Opening Day and are sending right-handers Taj Bradley and Bailey Ober to the mound for the last two games of the series. The Orioles’ notes list right-handers Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter as Rangers starters for the first two games of the next series, and Texas likely will go with right-hander Nathan Eovaldi on Wednesday.

Gunnar Henderson is a leadoff candidate, having past experience in the role, but he batted second on Thursday behind right-handed hitting Taylor Ward.

Albernaz isn’t expected to stick with one set lineup against right-handers and one against lefties. Does anyone?

If Ward is hitting first against a right-hander, it stands to reason that he’d do it against a lefty. Right? But we really don’t know and Albernaz isn’t keen on lengthy lineup discussions.

Adley Rutschman batted cleanup and had two hits. He batted fourth 21 times last season, trailing Ryan O’Hearn (48), who’s with the Pirates, and Ryan Mountcastle (39), who is in more of a reserve role.

Seventeen of Rutschman’s starts at cleanup came within 19 games from July 28-Aug. 17. He didn’t return to that spot, but he also played in only five more games, from Sept. 23-28, because of a second oblique strain.

What can we glean from Albernaz’s first lineup?

Probably not much.

Albernaz won’t automatically pinch-run for Samuel Basallo.

Again it’s one game, but Basallo led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single and made one of the most important plays of the day by hustling from first to third on Tyler O’Neill’s single to center field. Basallo read how deeply Byron Buxton was playing and went in standing.

He isn’t fast.

Having both catchers in the lineup brings some risk. Pinch-run for Basallo and hope that Rutschman doesn’t leave the game with an injury.

Maybe Albernaz didn’t want to take Basallo’s bat out of the game. Otherwise, Dylan Beavers or Leody Taveras were available off the bench. Beavers is a 60-grade runner who stole 31 bases in 34 attempts with Double-A Chesapeake in 2024 and 23 in 28 attempts with Triple-A Norfolk last year, but he was questionable for the Opening Day roster with right knee soreness.

Albernaz stuck with Basallo and was rewarded for it.

Players already are comfortable with Albernaz.

Don’t mistake it for a lack of respect. He’s the boss and they will play hard for him.

They also will have fun with him.

Tyler Wells asked Albernaz, “How big of a vibes guy are you?” after the manager secured his first win. Of course, Albernaz delivered the perfect response.

“I said it before, I’ll say it again, I’m always down for the boys.”

Yeah, they’re gonna enjoy playing for this guy.

The 5-foot-8 Albernaz ended up in a laundry cart, usually done to celebrate a player’s milestone, like first victory or home run. Beers were poured on him from every direction. The soap didn’t do much to clean him.

“To throw Alb in that cart, get him in there, everyone’s chucking beer, soap, anything at him,” said Blaze Alexander. “That’s awesome, man. That’s what it’s about.”

Blaze is gonna be a blast for media.

From the moment he showed up, Alexander has been a quote machine and so full of energy that he could power the new scoreboard.

He was positively giddy in camp and especially Thursday, from the festivities to his run-scoring single to his postgame interviews.

“Game-winning RBI, super cool, man,” he said at his locker. “First hit as a Baltimore Oriole. Just looking at the dugout, seeing everyone’s faces, super excited for me. I’m pumped up and I’m grateful to be here.”  

It was abundantly clear.

On his single that gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead:

“Alb gave me the head nod, go f’in get ‘em, and I just went up there, compete and got that base it. I appreciate Alby for trusting me there.”

I mean, seriously, it doesn’t get much better than this guy.

During his on-field interview on MASN, Alexander was asked about the new celebratory gesture on the bases, with players locking their thumbs and flapping their fingers like bird wings. Rutschman really got into it after his double in the eighth, crouching down and swaying back and forth.

“We actually just talked about it in our hitters meeting,” Alexander said. “It took us 15 minutes to figure it out and do all that stuff.”

Alexander demonstrated it for Kevin Brown, Jim Palmer, Ben McDonald and the viewing audience.

“It’s a bird,” he said. “I don’t know what Adley did at second base. He did something.

“I think I was the loudest guy in the dugout. I was like, ‘What in the heck is he doing out there?’ They’re like, ‘He just did the bird but he did it another way.’ But yeah, that’s what we’re rolling with now, and hey, 1-0.”

The season doesn’t last one game.

This reminder isn’t intended to dump cold water on Opening Day. Or to put it in a laundry cart and douse it with beer.

The Orioles are 48-25 in openers since the franchise moved here from St. Louis in 1954. They pummeled the Blue Jays last year in Toronto, hitting six home runs in a 12-2 win. By May 17, they were 15-28 and playing for an interim manager.

Alonso celebrated the “gritty” and “blue collar” win, was touched by the crowd’s reaction to his first at-bat, was blown away by the pageantry. And then he let reality hop into the discussion.

“Happy to be a part of it and glad we got the Opening Day W,” he said. “And we’ve just got 161 to go.”

This is a marathon. Pace yourselves.