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It is a key question both in looking back at the Orioles’ 2024 season and ahead to what they hope is another good year for 2025.
What will it take to get Adley Rutschman’s bat going again?
Was he hurt when he slumped for much of the second-half?
“There is not an injury that I would speak to of any nature,” Mike Elias said during the season-ending press conference. The Orioles keep indicating that while Rutschman may have had the usual bumps and bruises, no injury was the main cause for his poor late-year stats.
Unless and until they tell us something different, that is what we have to go on here.
For Orioles young catching prospect Samuel Basallo, a 2024 season that began with him rehabbing a stress fracture in his right elbow and spending time as a DH ended with him healthy, hitting well and advancing to Triple-A for the first time in his career.
Basallo spent most of this year with Double-A Bowie over 106 games but in late August moved to Triple-A Norfolk and played his final 21 games for the Tides.
He was named by Minor League Baseball as the Top MLB Prospect in the Double-A Eastern League. He played in the Futures Game in July and is now ranked as the O’s No. 2 prospect in the team top 30 and No. 13 in the national top 100 at season’s end by both Baseball America and MLBPipepline.com.
Not bad for the youngster from the Dominican Republic, who was signed to a $1.3 million bonus in January of 2021. He flew up prospect rankings in 2023 and by the end of the year was a top 50 prospect. So he was a marked man all this year and still put up a .790 OPS between Bowie and Norfolk. He is the first Baysox to be named Top Prospect in the league by Minor League Baseball since Adley Rutschman in 2021.
This was his age 19 season by the way, and he did not turn 20 until Aug. 13.
The narrative for some is how bad the Orioles are on offense. We saw them score one run in two playoff games.
Yes, it still hurts and probably will be that way for a while.
The challenge for the organization in how to improve the offense is that over the long sample of the last two full seasons, it’s been among the highest-scoring in the sport.
Combined runs scored, 2023 and 2024:
1,748 – LA Dodgers
1,651 – Atlanta
1,632 – Arizona
1,593 – Orioles
Here is the thing about baseball: It can indeed break your heart. And in a sport that takes six months to play 162 games and can seem never-ending, the actual playoff ending can take about 24 to 48 hours.
All those games, all those ups and downs, all those emotions, then it's over in a blink.
And a whimper for the Orioles scoring just one run.
Mike Elias indicated Thursday he doesn’t want to make any knee-jerk reactions to the season and that is prudent.
The fanbase, on the other hand, or segments of such, are providing us an overwhelming amount of knee-jerk reactions. Someone must pay for this!
When it comes to the Orioles offense, some of the judgements of it show recency bias, and that is understandable. As the team struggled late in the year the offensive performance and production dropped.
Fewer runs led to fewer wins, pretty easy to understand. In scoring just one run in two games in the playoffs, the offense that came up short often late in the year did so again, this time on the biggest stage.
For the full year, some of the O’s offensive numbers looked good. Those numbers include those from the first half, when the offense ranked second in team OPS and fourth in runs per game. But in the second half the offense ranked 11th in the major leagues in team OPS and seventh in runs per game.
The first-half OPS was .764 as the Orioles scored 4.94 runs per game. In the second half those numbers were .731 and 4.73.
From Aug. 1 on, when the Orioles went 26-27, they scored 4.4 runs per game (13th in runs) and the OPS was .702 (15th).
During the first day of the Orioles offseason, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde took numerous questions from reporters trying to assess what went wrong again for the Orioles with a quick out in the playoffs.
Elias spoke for over 30 minutes.
After a 91-71 regular season, and 192 wins, the second-most in the majors since the start of last year, the O’s went 0-2 this October after going 0-3 last year against Texas.
“The expectations, I think, for this season were different. We didn’t meet them,” said Elias. “We all feel that. And it has applied a different kind of pressure that is new for a lot of people in this building. The big leagues can do that to you.
“I am optimistic, bullish, I believe in this group going forward, but it’s not going to just happen automatically. We’re going to have to put in the right work this winter. Everyone is going to have to look internally. Self assess, self correct.”
The ending can be abrupt and this one was. A season of big expectations for the Orioles ended with another quick out in the playoffs. This time they are done one round sooner than last year.
It all stings in the moment and will probably stay with many in the organization and fanbase for quite a while.
Ten straight postseason losses and swept in four consecutive series counting the one-game Wild Card in 2016. Not good.
In time some of the hurt will fade and fans will look forward to another promising season. For the Orioles, the window to win should be in the early stages of a multi-year run. This should not be their last crack at it.
Last year they gave up too many runs to Texas. This year they scored too few in 1-0 and 2-1 losses to Kansas City.
The Orioles have lost yet another close postseason game to the Kansas City Royals. Swept four straight in the 2014 American League Championship Series by six total runs, they lost a pair of one-run games to K.C. in this AL Wild Card round.
They lose 2-1 today and scored just one run in the series. The Royals advance to play the No. 1 seed Yankees in a series that begins on Saturday in the Bronx.
The Orioles are now 0-6 all-time in the playoffs versus the Royals by eight total runs.
After a 91-71 regular season and a second-place AL East finish, the season ends again in early October.
The O’s have lost 10 straight in the postseason.
Facing a win or go home, the season's over scenario, the Orioles host the Kansas City Royals today in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card round series at Oriole Park.
There were just 10 hits yesterday as Kansas City pushed across a sixth-inning run to beat the Orioles 1-0, who now have a nine-game postseason losing streak.
Bobby Witt Jr. singled in the only run as Kansas City moved to within one win of advancing to the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees.
The Orioles, who scored 22 runs in sweeping Minnesota over the weekend and 56 runs in their last 10 regular-season games, were shut out. It was their fourth shutout over the last 20 games since Sept. 8.
O's right-hander Corbin Burnes went eight-innings plus one batter allowing five hits and one run on 84 pitches. Burnes, who has never thrown a complete game came close yesterday. His career-long outing was 8 1/3 innings on July 18, 2021 for Milwaukee at Cincinnati.
After Orioles starting pitchers covered just eight innings in the 2023 American League Division Series versus Texas, O’s 2024 ace Corbin Burnes matched that innings total in one night.
He was that good.
But even giving up one run was too many on this night as the Orioles were held to five hits, went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and were shutout 1-0 by Kansas City in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card round.
The Orioles had scored 22 runs in a three-game sweep at Minnesota and 56 runs with a team OPS of .797 in their last 10 regular season games.
But the O’s have now been blanked four times since Sept. 8 and that is a 20-game span.
It was the pitcher’s duel that many expected. It was a game where one run was scored and today the visitors got it.
The Orioles' playoff losing streak, dating to 2014, reached nine today as they lost 1-0 to Kansas City on Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI single in the top of the sixth.
O’s starter Corbin Burnes, who allowed one run over eight innings plus, was outstanding today, just as he was late in the year.
But now the Orioles have to win two straight games to advance out of this Wild Card round.
Some quick thoughts on Game 1:
In the postseason in two straight years for the first time since 1996 and 1997, the Orioles host the Kansas City Royals today in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card round.
It’s a best two-of-three series with the Orioles hosting two games and all three, if necessary.
For what it’s worth, since the 12-team MLB playoff format started with the 2022 postseason, all eight Wild Card round series have ended with 2-0 sweeps. There has yet to be a third and deciding game.
In 2022, Cleveland defeated Tampa Bay, Seattle beat Toronto, Philadelphia beat St. Louis and San Diego topped the New York Mets, all by 2-0.
There were four 2-0 sweeps last year for Minnesota over Toronto, Texas over Tampa Bay, Arizona over Milwaukee and Miami over Philadelphia.
Now that the Orioles survived a rocky second half, one where they needed to win their final three games to play .500 ball (33-33), manager Brandon Hyde hopes the team gains something from the adversity.
“I’m hoping it makes us tougher honestly,” Hyde said Monday at Camden Yards. “The adversity our guys went through this year, I hope it benefits us this postseason. I think it’s going to benefit guys in the future.
“I think last year’s (playoff) experience, of what that felt like at the end, when we did have that kind of fairytale season and a quick exit. I’m hoping these guys still have that taste in their mouth going into this postseason.”
According to at least one of the guys, the Orioles do.
They lost to the Rangers three straight in the American League Division Series last year by scores of 3-2, 11-8 and 7-1. A long successful season was followed by a quick out in the postseason.
In sizing up the last two regular seasons, where the Orioles posted 192 wins to rank second-most in the majors, O’s skipper Brandon Hyde noted the differences Monday afternoon at his press conference ahead of Game 1 of the AL Wild Card playoff series with Kansas City.
There were big differences between how one team won 101 games and a division title and the other faced real challenges to get to 91 victories and a Wild Card berth.
“Last year there were so many things that went right throughout the regular season,” said Hyde. “The one thing that went wrong was (Félix) Bautista there at the end. But it felt like we won a lot of games that maybe we shouldn’t have at the time. We had a lot of comebacks.
“And this year was just a little more of a grind. Way more injuries. A big part of our rotation that we lost. There were a lot of things we dealt with that we didn’t have to deal with last year.
“I’m hoping it makes us tougher honestly. The adversity our guys went through this year, I hope it benefits us this postseason. I think it’s going to benefit guys in the future.
As he goes into start Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday, the Orioles are delighted to see what happened to right-hander Corbin Burnes in August was very different over the last month.
He struggled over five August starts, allowing 28 runs in 25 2/3 innings. But he gave up just five runs in 30 September innings.
Burnes in August: 7.36 ERA and .827 OPS against.
Burnes in September: 1.20 ERA and .512 OPS against.
Over his past three starts against playoff teams, two against the Tigers and one versus the Yankees, Burnes allowed one run and seven hits over 19 innings.
It hasn’t been so long that Orioles fans won’t remember. The 2014 Kansas City Royals swept the Orioles four games to none in the AL Championship Series.
It sounds crazy to say, but it was a close series.
The Orioles lost by two, two, one and one run. Each game went down to the last pitch. The Royals didn’t lose a game, but barely won each of them.
This is no rematch now, but it is the Orioles and Royals in the American League Wild Card series beginning Tuesday.
This time it’s a best-of-three series, with all games in Baltimore and the winner advancing to face the AL top seed New York Yankees.
The Orioles put a wrap on their 2024 regular season today as they play at Minnesota looking to complete a three-game sweep over the Twins.
The Orioles (90-71) have won by 7-2 and 9-2 in the first two games of their series at Minnesota that they can sweep today. Each game the O’s were scored on in the ninth inning as they failed to complete what would have been their 10th shutout.
Today the Orioles are looking for their sixth series sweep of three or more games this season and they already have one against Minnesota.
The O’s swept three at Boston from April 9-11 and three at home versus Minnesota from April 15-17. They took three at Cincinnati from May 3-5. Their past two series sweeps are four-game sweeps at the Chicago White Sox May 23-26 and at Tampa Bay from June 7-10.
The O’s just had a chance to sweep the Yankees in New York on Thursday, but they lost 10-1. So today they could get their sweep and conclude a 5-1 road trip.
With their 9-2 win over the Minnesota Twins Saturday night, the Orioles improved their record to 90-71 with one game to play.
The Birds have won four of five and six of the last nine games as they are playing better with the playoffs starting Tuesday.
A win today and they would finish 33-33 in the second half.
By securing win No. 90, this O’s team is now tied for the 20th-most wins in team history with the 1975 and 1978 teams. So 22 O’s teams have won 90 or more.
If they get win No. 91 today, the O’s will tie for the 18th-most wins in club history with teams from 1968 and 1974.
The Orioles have two games remaining in the 2024 regular season and they are two games that won’t change much for the club in that they have a playoff berth secured and after last night, the top American League Wild Card spot secured too.
The Orioles will host either Detroit or Kansas City next week, beginning Tuesday in Baltimore in a best-of-three series.
The Orioles (89-71) beat Minnesota 7-2 Friday to lock down the No. 4 playoff seed and by losing, Minnesota was eliminated from postseason contention.
Friday’s win improved the Orioles to 4-0 this year against Minnesota by a 29-11 score. They have scored seven, 11, four and seven runs in wins over Minnesota. The Orioles have produced 47 hits in the season series with 11 homers, batting .320 and with a team OPS of .922.
The Orioles have now won eight games in a row over Minnesota, outscoring the Twins 55-17 in those games.
Now we know for certain there will be playoff baseball in Baltimore this year. That Oriole Park at Camden Yards will host at least two home games and hopefully many more.
With Friday's 7-2 win over Minnesota, the Orioles wrapped up the No. 4 seed, the top Wild Card seed, and will host a series next week, beginning Tuesday versus either the Tigers or Royals.
It's a best two-of-three series with all games at the higher seed, which will be the Orioles.
Can't wait to see and hear the Yard rocking as it was last season in the American League Division Series.
Detroit is currently holding the No. 5 seed to be the O's opponent. The Tigers lead the Royals by one game. Should they tie, Kansas City gets the No. 5 spot via winning the tiebreaker.
