A World Series that supposedly was going to be boring and a ratings killer began last night with Corey Seager’s game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning and Adolis García’s walk-off homer in the 11th that gave the Rangers a 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks.

The first extra-inning game of the 2023 postseason, and it was an instant classic.

The Diamondbacks’ lineup included first baseman Christian Walker, the Orioles’ fourth-round draft pick in 2012 out of the University of South Carolina. A delayed success story.

Walker appeared in only 13 games in 2014-15, his path blocked by expensive veteran Chris Davis and prospect Trey Mancini. He made only six starts at first.

The Braves claimed Walker off waivers in February 2017, and the Reds claimed him a month later. Arizona claimed him three weeks after that.

The Orioles were shut out yesterday in Fielding Bible Award selections. They’ll have to settle for having three players with a chance to win a Rawlings Gold Glove.

That’s the extent of their glove love in 2023.

Jorge Mateo won the award at shortstop last season, though he was excluded from the list of finalists for a Gold Glove.

The Cubs’ Dansby Swanson earned the Fielding Bible Award in 2023, the only unanimous selection. He led all shortstops with 18 defensive runs saved.

As you’ve probably figured out, only one award is handed out at each position. There isn’t a separation of the two leagues.

Part of the ripple effect from the Orioles’ wave of promotions today within the scouting department is a change in roles for Anthony Villa.

Villa is replacing Matt Blood as director of player development, according to an industry source. Blood has been promoted to vice president of player development and domestic scouting.

Villa was put in charge this year of overseeing the entire system as minor league hitting coordinator after working at the lower levels. He played in the White Sox system from 2016-18 and came to the organization prior to 2020 as hitting coach at Aberdeen before the pandemic forced the cancellation of the minor league season.

Among the announced promotions is the following:

Koby Perez is vice president of international scouting and operations. Mike Snyder is senior director of pro scouting. Gerardo Cabrera is director of Latin American scouting. Kevin Carter is manager of pro scouting. Hendrik Herz is manager of domestic scouting analysis. Chad Tatum is manager of domestic scouting. Will Robertson is special assignment scout. Alex Tarandek is a senior analyst in scouting. Michael Weis is a senior data scientist of draft evaluation. And Maria Arellano is senior manager of international operations and baseball administration.

The World Series begins Friday night in Arlington, Texas, with the Rangers facing the Diamondbacks. The way nobody expected it.

I didn’t perform an exhaustive search, but I’m confident in saying industry-wide projections back in March didn’t include this pairing. But teams get hot at the right time, and they burn a path to the Fall Classic.

They also scorch the doubters, and the list of names was miles long.

Jordan Montgomery would have been a nice fit with the Orioles, but the Cardinals traded him to the Rangers around the deadline, along with reliever Chris Stratton, for left-hander John King and two top 30 prospects in pitcher Tekoah Roby and infielder Thomas Saggese.

The Orioles have the No. 1 ranked farm system in baseball. They won’t outspend teams but can out-prospect them.

The Orioles are making changes to the pitching side of their major league coaching staff.

According to a source, Chris Holt won’t serve as pitching coach in 2024 but maintains his duties as director of pitching, a title pinned to him prior to the pandemic 2020 season.

Assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes is leaving the organization, per the source, creating a second opening on the staff.

Holt was hired in 2019 as minor league pitching coordinator, following executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and vice president and assistant general manager Sig Mejdal from the Astros organization, where he was assistant pitching coordinator. The Orioles promoted Holt to pitching coach in 2021 as Doug Brocail’s replacement.

The latest switch enables Holt to concentrate fully on supervising the rest of the organization in the quest to develop more pitching, leveraging his skill set and experience. He retains access to and authority over the minor league pitchers while also able to work directly with the major league staff.

The Orioles set up a competition at first base in spring training that became one of the more interesting follows for media and fans. About as engrossing as possible for a backup job. The tallying of stats and ranking perceived leaders, breaking down their strengths and weaknesses.

Ryan Mountcastle was the undisputed starter, of course, but the non-roster invites included Ryan O’Hearn, Franchy Cordero, Lewin Díaz, Josh Lester and Curtis Terry. Quite a crowd.

Díaz was the first to go, with the Orioles reassigning him on March 20 while he dealt with right shoulder soreness. He didn’t make it back to the majors despite batting .268/.362/.442 with 21 doubles, 17 home runs and 64 RBIs in 118 games with Triple-A Norfolk.

Terry was released March 26 and spent the summer playing for the independent Gastonia Honey Hunters of the Atlantic League and Lake Country DockHounds of the American Association. Cordero exercised the opt-out clause in his contract the following day, signed with the Yankees, had four home runs and 11 RBIs in his first seven games, returned to earth and batted .188/.211/.478 with six homers and 13 RBIs in 24 games.

O’Hearn and Lester were reassigned March 27.

The offseason remains relatively quiet for the Orioles after their Division Series loss to the Rangers.

They signed pitcher Guachi Jules to a minor league contract, and the only information I can find is he’s 19-years-old, right-handed and assigned to the Dominican Summer League orange team. Pitcher Austin Voth, catchers Anthony Bemboom and José Godoy elected free agency.

Director of draft operations Brad Ciolek is joining the Nationals as senior director of amateur scouting. Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Bradish and Ryan O’Hearn are finalists for the Major League Baseball Players Association’s Players Choice Awards. Catcher Adley Rutschman, first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and left fielder Austin Hays are Gold Glove finalists.

Reliever Nate Webb signed a two-year minor league contract that includes an invitation to spring training. Pitcher Bruce Zimmermann underwent core muscle surgery in Philadelphia and should be ready for spring training.

Otherwise, hardly a peep.

Emptying out the mailbag isn’t as easy as it sounds. Questions are missed or held, the latter to keep the post at a reasonable length.

I’m not worried about breaking the internet. Just your spirit.

Here are some leftovers from last week, with a smattering of newbies. Enjoy my disregard for editing. And be aware that my mailbag leads the parade, and your mailbag follows the elephant with a shovel.

Is the Orioles 49-game improvement over two seasons the record now?
The Orioles tied the 1890-92 Cleveland Spiders for seventh, according to STATS. The 1884-86 Detroit Wolverines are first with a 59-game improvement. In more modern baseball times, the 1981-83 Blue Jays improved by 52 games. However, the ’81 season was shortened by the players’ strike that lasted from June 12-July 31.

Is the rotation or bullpen the No. 1 offseason priority?
Don’t know whether the Orioles post official rankings. The business can be conducted simultaneously. Whatever gets done first is first. And bullpens tend to be a little easier based on cost and supply.

With so much said and written about the Orioles throughout the offseason and spring training, it’s hard to remember how much the media got right, wrong or stuck in a gray area.

The internet makes it a lot easier to keep score.

So does a good memory.

On a Sunday spent on the Eastern Shore, with my mother’s cooking a coma-inducing risk – her Italian chicken and spaghetti, preceded and followed by a table full of snacks, have laid out larger men than me – I decided to revisit some of my thoughts and predictions while I’m conscious.

Adley Rutschman’s workload behind the plate.

Former Orioles closer Zack Britton didn’t pitch this summer after failing to reach agreement on a free-agent contract, providing him with the opportunity to spend more time with a family that’s grown to include four children ranging in age from nine to two. And to more easily follow along on his older brother’s journey to a Triple-A championship.

He knew that Buck Britton was wired to coach and manage. That the short-circuiting of the former infielder’s playing career wasn’t the end of his baseball life.

It was just the beginning.

The Tides set a franchise record with 90 victories, won their first International League title since 1985 and secured their first Triple-A crown since 1983.  Britton was selected as the league’s Manager of the Year, following his award in 2019 with Double-A Bowie. He’s 164-135 in two seasons with Norfolk and 381-312 in five years in the Orioles’ system, beginning in 2018 at Single-A Delmarva.

The gig fits like a fielder’s glove.

One year ago, the Orioles were juggling emotions that ranged from disappointment that they missed the postseason to excitement over the strides that led them further away from the rebuild phase. Contention until the last week. Confidence that they’d keep playing next fall past 162 games.

Winning the division was an unexpected bonus.

What a difference a year makes - a thought that leads me to some other developments most of us did not anticipate.

Maybe all of us. I didn’t take a poll.

Here are three:

Ryan Mountcastle was drafted by the Orioles as a shortstop in 2015, the 36^th-overall selection out of a Florida high school with bat skills that figured to stamp his ticket to the majors. Evaluators assured that he’d hit at any level.

But where to play him?

The arm didn’t work at short, leading some members of the organization to quickly push for a position change. Others were slower to concede.

Valuable time was lost, and that created some friction. As if more of it was needed behind the scenes.

The Orioles decided to try him at third base full-time in 2018 after his 16 starts in the Arizona Fall League. They introduced him to left field the following year at Triple-A Norfolk, setting up his major league debut in 2020. But the career-changer came with the commitment to first base, where he made 82 starts in 2021 and 123 in ‘22.

The Orioles will try again for their first multiple Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners since 2014.

They have three candidates this year – catcher Adley Rutschman, first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and left fielder Austin Hays.

Rutschman is pitted against the Rangers’ Jonah Heim and the Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk. Mountcastle joins the Yankees’ Anthony Rizzo and the Rangers’ Nathaniel Lowe. Hays joins the Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho and the Guardians’ Steven Kwan.

Winners are determined from voting by the managers and coaches in each league who are prohibited from choosing their own players. A sabermetric component accounts for about 25 percent of the vote total.

The results will be announced on Nov. 5 beginning at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight.”

The finality of the Orioles’ season erases games and ticket requests – and I definitely can speak to the latter - but not the lingering questions.

There’s much to review about a 101-win season, as well as the three straight losses to the Rangers in the Division Series that left manager Brandon Hyde “irritated” and “pissed.”

Those feelings were shared by many in the organization.

Two subjects came up in last week’s media session that are worth revisiting this morning.

Is the five-day layoff an excuse for early playoff exits?

Awards season is upon us despite the leagues competing to determine who competes in the World Series.

The Orioles' Gunnar Henderson, Kyle Bradish and Ryan O’Hearn are finalists for the Major League Baseball Players Association’s Players Choice Awards. The announcement was made earlier today.

As the name suggests, the players handle the voting.

Henderson is competing with the Rangers’ Josh Jung and the Red Sox’s Triston Casas for the American League’s Outstanding Rookie honor.

Bradish is competing against the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Twins’ Sonny Gray for AL Outstanding Pitcher. And O’Hearn is a finalist for AL Comeback Player along with Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow and White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks.

The task of constructing a 26-man roster for 2024, and it’s never too early to begin the process through staff meetings, is easier in some ways for Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias.

The backup catcher already is in place with another season left on the four-year deal that James McCann signed with the Mets. The Orioles usually hold a camp competition that involves players on one-year contracts and minor league deals, or with salaries set via the arbitration process. But next spring’s drama will be reduced to determining who’s the next man up in case of injury.

Anthony Bemboom headed north with the team again after McCann went on the IL with a left oblique strain.

The outfield already is crowded and Elias could be dissuaded from pursuing a veteran. He’s got to figure out how to potentially fit Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad. Not to block them.

The infield also is deep, and Jackson Holliday has a chance to make the Opening Day roster. Second baseman Connor Norby put up big numbers in Triple-A. Third baseman Coby Mayo mashed in Double-A and Triple-A, hitting a combined .290/.410/.564 with 45 doubles, three triples, 29 home runs and 99 RBIs in 140 games, and earning Most Valuable Player honors in the Eastern League.

The Orioles’ swift exit from the Division Series brings us to the first mailbag of the offseason. Tailor made if you’re the Rangers, also bringing us to the first Taylor Swift pun.

I'll get to ERAs later.

(Her current tour is called Eras. Try to keep up and be cool like me.)

The organization doesn’t go dark. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and his staff are plotting their roster strategies and, after the weekend news about Brad Ciolek taking a job with the Nationals, how to find their next director of draft operations.

A scout from outside the organization texted me yesterday that the Orioles have “plenty of in-house candidates.” Maybe that’s the solution.

It used to be said that the Orioles worrying about a closer was akin – as opposed to Keegan Akin, which wasn’t said – to putting shiny hubcaps on a rusted Ford Pinto.

They had far bigger issues than worrying about ninth inning leads. Like, trying to get a ninth inning lead.

But we’ve moved past bad teams. The Orioles won 101 games this season. They are expected to be the favorites to win the division again in 2024. Their odds to win the World Series won’t be 100/1.

The Orioles have tried their own relievers in the past, most recently Félix Bautista, who went from imposing setup man to imposing closer and made the All-Star team. Averaged an obscene 16.2 strikeouts per nine innings and entered the Cy Young conversation before tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and undergoing surgery that removes him from next year’s roster.

Jorge López went from starter to closer before Bautista replaced him. Jim Johnson was a minor league starter in the Orioles’ system and later a closer who saved 50-plus games in back-to-back seasons. Zack Britton was Zach Britton while starting and later closing for the Orioles, going 47-for-47 in 2016 and finishing fourth in Cy Young voting.

Mike Elias confirmed this week that he’s returning as Orioles executive vice president/general manager, and Brandon Hyde remains the manager following a 101-win season.

However, the scouting department won’t go untouched.

An industry source confirmed today that director of draft operations Brad Ciolek is joining the Nationals as senior director of amateur scouting.

The hire is part of a massive shakeup by the Nats, who also are replacing director of player development De Jon Watson. Johnny DiPuglia resigned as international scouting director in September. Twelve scouts were told later that month that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed.

Ciolek will report directly to former Orioles scout Danny Haas, hired last week as vice president of amateur scouting. Kris Kline, who held the job since 2009, moves into a scouting position on the professional side.

Matt Swartz at MLBTradeRumors.com created a model to project salaries for arbitration-eligible players, which the site has published for 13 years. Is it 100 percent accurate? Of course not, because that would be impossible. But he nails some and comes darn close with others.

That's to be expected with an algorithm that, as the site describes it, “looks at the player’s playing time, position, role, and performance statistics while accounting for inflation.” We’re also warned against using it as a “scorecard.” But does that stop us?

Of course not.

Anyway, the Orioles have an astounding 16 players eligible for arbitration, tied with the Rays and Mets for second most behind the Yankees’ 17. My unscientific projection is there’s zero chance that the club retains all of them.

Anthony Santander’s salary could jump from $7.4 million to $12.7 million. Starter Kyle Gibson led the club this season at $10 million, since the Yankees carried the bulk of Aaron Hicks’ salary and the Mets handled the bulk of James McCann’s.