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.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde took a temperature check of his team this morning. He walked in the clubhouse and the weight room. No one seemed to be sweating yesterday’s loss that pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Wild Card round.

“I think it's totally business as usual,” Hyde said.

“I think guys are in great spirits and ready to get after it today.”

They must or there’s no tomorrow.

“I have all the faith in the world in this team,” said Colton Cowser. “I think yesterday it was just one of those days. I think our guys, we're really confident, really comfortable, and we're looking forward to bouncing back.”

If the Orioles reach the Division Series, Game 1 would be played Saturday at 6:38 p.m. at Yankee Stadium. Game 2 would be played Monday at 7:38 p.m.

They need to get there first, and a loss today destroys that goal.

Colton Cowser is the cleanup hitter this afternoon, Adley Rutschman is catching and Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter.

Zach Eflin pitched for the Rays in Kansas City on July 4 and allowed five earned runs and six total in five innings. He owns a 5.09 ERA in four career starts against them totaling 23 innings.

Eflin tossed a complete-game shutout against the Royals on May 11, 2019 with the Phillies.

If the Nationals want to point to only one clearly positive development from their just-completed season, the answer is simple: Improved pitching, especially in the rotation, especially from a group of young starters.

MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz may not have been dominant – though all exhibited moments of dominance along the way – but collectively they made 113 starts, pitched effectively (4.20 ERA, 1.297 WHIP) and established their place in the club’s 2025 plans.

“The biggest thing is obviously our young pitching,” manager Davey Martinez said last weekend. “Seeing some of these guys come up who we thought wouldn’t be here yet doing what they’ve done, they’ve done really well.”

Indeed, only Gore and Irvin were part of the Opening Day rotation. The three other slots went to designated No. 1 starter Josiah Gray and veterans Patrick Corbin and Trevor Williams. Gray made only two starts before going on the injured list with an elbow issue that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. Corbin made his usual 32 starts with his usual inflated ERA. Williams enjoyed a major turnaround from the previous year but still missed 3 1/2 months with a flexor strain.

So the unexpected positive developments involved Parker and Herz, a couple of rookie left-handers who figured to get a shot at some point later in the season but wound up in D.C. much earlier than expected and then held onto their jobs once they arrived.

Corbin Burnes threw his last warmup pitch, stepped off the mound, turned his back to home plate and settled into a crouch before his catcher could do it. With his head lowered, he chose a crowded venue to hold a private moment.

Burnes finally stood, faced home plate and owned it again.

This is why the Orioles traded for him. To start on Opening Day and in Game 1 of a playoff series, in this instance the Wild Card round. To be that guy. But he can’t score runs for himself.

Bobby Witt Jr. singled with two outs in the sixth inning to produce the first lead of the day, and the Orioles were silenced by Cole Ragans and three relievers in a deflating 1-0 loss today before an announced crowd of 41,506 at Camden Yards.

The playoff losing streak has reached nine games dating back to the Royals’ sweep in the 2014 Championship Series. They need to win Wednesday afternoon with Zach Eflin starting or be shut down again.

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.

Ryan O’Hearn is treating today like it’s the first game of the Wild Card round. He’s being literal. He denies any motivation to get back at the Royals, who drafted him in 2014 and kept him in the majors for five seasons before the cash considerations trade with the Orioles in January 2023.

That’s his story, and he’s playfully sticking to it.

“Obviously you want to win every playoff game and every game you play,” he said this morning at his media session. “There's really no, like, revenge in my mind.”

Then came the slight pause and the kicker.

“You know,” he added, “even if there was, I wouldn't tell you guys.”

The High-A Aberdeen IronBirds will operate under different ownership in 2025.

Cal Ripken Jr., 64. has sold his majority stake in the Orioles’ affiliate. However, the Hall of Famer and brother Bill, a former major league infielder and current MLB Network analyst, will remain part of the ownership group.

Attain Sports, led by minor league baseball operator and business leader Greg Baroni, is partnering with the Ripkens by acquiring controlling interest in IB Professional Holdings. The company also owns the Double-A Bowie Baysox and MLB Draft League Frederick Keys.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Attain Sports sent out a press release.

“Bill and I are proud of what we have been able to bring to our hometown,” Ripken said in a statement. “Since 2002, through the IronBirds and our Ripken Experience Aberdeen youth baseball complex, we have been able to provide wonderful experiences for baseball fans of all ages. At this stage of my life, I thought the timing was right to turn over the day-to-day management of the IronBirds to Greg. I am thrilled that we can partner with such well-respected operators like Greg and Attain Sports.”

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.

The start of the 2023 postseason for the Orioles included the shocking news that John Means wouldn’t make the Division Series roster due to elbow soreness that followed his appearance in an intrasquad game at Camden Yards. The club didn’t share anything of that magnitude this morning, but the inclusion of Colin Selby in the bullpen came as a surprise.

Selby was chosen over Matt Bowman. Albert Suárez wasn’t going to make it after working six innings Sunday in Minnesota.

Explaining the Selby move, manager Brandon Hyde said, “We just felt Selby in a couple games he’s thrown for us showed really, really good stuff. And just from a matchup standpoint, wanted an extra right-hander in the bullpen. He’s got a 97 mph fastball and a really good slider, so we’re excited to add him.”

The Game 2 starter remains a mystery, and it appears that what happens later today might dictate the choice.

Where is Hyde on the Game 2 starter?

The Orioles are carrying 12 pitchers and 14 position players for the Wild Card series against the Royals that begins this afternoon at soggy Camden Yards.

Albert Suárez threw six innings on Sunday and was dropped from the roster until perhaps getting a start in the Division Series if the Orioles can advance. Rookie Cade Povich made it, giving the Orioles five left-handers in a nine-man bullpen.

The big surprise is Colin Selby making it over Matt Bowman after the Orioles recalled him Sunday. Selby has made three appearances. Bowman made 15, including a start as the opener, and posted a 3.45 ERA in 15 2/3 innings.

The 14 position players who ended the regular season have remained with the club for the first round of the playoffs. The Orioles kept infielder Emmanuel Rivera and outfielder Heston Kjerstad. A 13-13 split likely would have removed one of them.

The Game 2 starter apparently is dependent on the Game 1 outcome. Corbin Burnes is on the mound this afternoon.

In his end-of-season session with reporters, Mike Rizzo lamented the Nationals’ lack of power and need to make significant improvements in that department in the future.

“Slug is something that we’re going to try and either acquire and/or develop,” the longtime general manager said, “to get to a point where you don’t need to get three or four hits in an inning to score a run, and it makes it much more difficult to put up a crooked number.”

Rizzo said this one year ago, at the end of the 2023 season. If you didn’t know that, you’d have every reason to believe he just said it last weekend as the Nats were wrapping up yet another power-starved season at the plate.

The 2024 Nationals were an improved group in many ways. They were not any better at hitting the ball out of the park. In fact, they were worse.

Last season, they ranked 21st in the majors with 700 runs scored. This season, they ranked 25th with only 660 runs scored. Last season, they ranked 29th in home runs with 151. This season, they again ranked 29th with only 135 homers.

History will forever show the Nationals went 71-91 in 2024. Just as they did in 2023. It’s not a won-loss record anyone should remember fondly, and the fact it didn’t change from 12 months prior would suggest the team as a whole didn’t really improve at all from one year to the next. For a franchise three years into a roster rebuild, that could feel quite disheartening.

Do you think it’s fair, though, to evaluate this team primarily on its won-loss record? Presented with that question over the weekend, Davey Martinez had to think long and hard before finally settling on an answer.

“Um … no, I really don’t,” the longtime manager said. “We’ve had a lot of different things happen in the course of the year.”

Martinez went on to detail how much the Nationals’ roster changed from April to September, how the team that ended the season was one of the youngest in baseball, which offered plenty of promise but also lent itself to more losses down the stretch than anyone would have liked.

“I thought a lot this morning about where we’re at,” he said. “We had to make so many transitions.”

MINNEAPOLIS – The Orioles finally know their opponent for the Wild Card series. The preparation will get a lot easier.

The Royals clinched the No. 5 seed and will come to Camden Yards for Tuesday’s Game 1, setting up a rematch of the 2014 Championship Series that began the Orioles' eight-game playoff losing streak. Left-hander Cole Ragans will start. The Tigers did the unthinkable and lost to the White Sox again.

The Orioles must finalize their roster and Albert Suarez’s presumed spot might have closed. He wasn’t shortened today in his start, throwing 71 pitches in six innings in a 6-2 victory over the Twins at Target Field.

Rookie left-hander Cade Povich is making it, according to a source, and Suárez could be held back until the Division Series. The Orioles can wait until Tuesday morning to submit their roster.

Suárez could start Game 1 of the ALDS on an extra day of rest if the Orioles advance. Their plans for him aren’t confirmed but seemed to gain clarity.

The 2024 Nationals wound up being a team of contradictions. They unquestionably showed real signs of progress from a year ago, especially in the pitching department. And yet when you look at the final standings, you’ll find a 71-91 record that looks identical to their 71-91 mark from 2023.

They wound up in this familiar situation after taking a 6-3 loss to the Phillies this afternoon in their season finale. Having already won the previous two days against the division champs, the Nats dug themselves into an early hole created by Jake Irvin and couldn’t quite claw all the way back, despite one last-ditch attempt in the bottom of the ninth.

"We made it interesting," manager Davey Martinez sighed. "Testament to the guys. They fought hard all year long. I'm proud of them. Obviously, nobody wants to go home this time of year. You want to keep playing. But the effort was definitely there this year."

There wasn’t as much intensity on display today as there was Friday and Saturday at Nationals Park, where the young home team seemed extra motivated to beat the Phillies and deny them a shot at home-field advantage throughout the postseason. With nothing at stake anymore, this was a more low-key affair, with the Phillies sitting Bryce Harper and pulling Trea Turner early, though the Nats decided to battle one last time.

Loading the bases with no outs in the ninth, they had three shots to win the game with one swing. But Luis García Jr. struck out, James Wood struck out looking and Juan Yepez drove a ball to the wall in left that left everybody holding their breath until Kody Clemens made a leaping catch to end the game.

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 10^th 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.

Neither Keibert Ruiz nor Bryce Harper is in their respective teams’ lineups for today’s season finale, so it doesn’t look like there will be any residual effects of Saturday’s incident between the two, one that prompted both the Nationals and Phillies’ benches and bullpens to empty.

Ruiz figured to be off all along, with Drew Millas getting the start behind the plate after Ruiz caught the previous three games. And with the Phillies no longer having a shot at home-field advantage in the playoffs, manager Rob Thomson decided to give Harper a breather and let him prepare for the National League Division Series later this week.

Saturday’s eighth-inning situation, though, still resonated the following day, an unexpected display of emotion from a couple of prominent players, one of them of course a former Nationals star.

Jose A. Ferrer had just surrendered a game-tying homer to Trea Turner when Harper stepped to the plate in what was now a 2-2 game. Ferrer’s second pitch of that at-bat was a 98 mph sinker right on the outer edge of the zone, and Ruiz held his mitt there for an extra second hoping to get the strike call from plate umpire Nic Lentz. (He didn’t get the call.)

Harper immediately said something to Ruiz, who later told reporters the Philly slugger appeared to be bothered by his attempt to frame the pitch.

We have reached the finish line. It’s Game 162, and while this one doesn’t officially matter for either team, there are still some personal achievements on the line. And for the Nationals, a chance to close out the year with a surprising sweep of the playoff-bound Phillies and to top last year’s win total with No. 72.

It’ll be Jake Irvin on the mound one last time. And as was the case Saturday with MacKenzie Gore, he’ll be looking for win No. 11, a number no Nats starter has reached since 2019. Unlike Gore, Irvin can’t get his ERA down below the 4.00 mark – unless he can go 10 2/3 scoreless innings – but he can finish on a high note. And if he can complete 6 2/3 innings, he’ll reach the 190 mark for the season, no small accomplishment.

At the plate, James Wood needs another homer to reach 10 in his rookie season. Dylan Crews needs a good day to get his batting average over .200. Oh, and in the bullpen, Derek Law needs to record one more out to get to 90 innings for the season.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 3:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 74 degrees, wind 7 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
2B Luis García Jr.
LF James Wood
DH Juan Yepez
3B José Tena
RF Dylan Crews
1B Joey Gallo
C Drew Millas
CF Jacob Young
SS Nasim Nuñez

MINNEAPOLIS – The Orioles recalled reliever Colin Selby this morning and designated left-hander Tucker Davidson for assignment after he tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings last night.

Selby is another fresh arm for the bullpen, with manager Brandon Hyde prepping his other relievers for availability in Game 1 of Tuesday’s Wild Card game.

Selby appeared in two games with the Orioles in August and didn’t allow a run or hit in three innings. He struck out four batters.

The Orioles haven’t committed to their Game 2 starter.

Albert Suárez gets today’s start, with uncertainty over how long he’ll pitch. Hyde was non-committal yesterday about possibly shortening Suárez.