He may have given up seven runs in three innings on Saturday afternoon - and that tied his career high for runs allowed - but Orioles lefty John Means closed out another strong year. In 2019, he emerged as the top starter on the team. In 2021, he confirmed for all of us that he remains that and was not a one-year fluke. Or that the earlier season was going to be an outlier in a longer career. He missed a few starts with injuries, but Means showed again that he is the ace of this staff. Until he...

The final game of the 2021 season is sneaking up on the Orioles today and tapping them on the shoulder, perhaps leery of a harsh reaction. Tip-toeing around this team probably is a wise strategy. Whispered apologies. Keeping its guard up, just in case. The Orioles went 54-108 in 2019, the most recent full season. They're 52-109 heading into today's finale in Toronto. They're also 20-55 against the American League East. The 55 losses are their second-most in a season in franchise history...

Nothing about today's start in Toronto was capable of lowering manager Brandon Hyde's opinion of John Means. The left-hander's status as the Orioles' ace of a young pitching staff. The expectation that he'll hold the ball on opening day 2022. Hyde just hoped to get a sharper outing, for the left-hander's frame of mind heading into the offseason and his club as it tried to rattle the Blue Jays' cage. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernández homered off Means in a three-run first...

Gerardo Parra is getting one last shot to finish the season on the field, but it appears Luis García's season may have already ended. Parra was activated off the 10-day injured list prior to this afternoon's game against the Red Sox, with left-hander Josh Rogers placed on the IL with a right hamstring strain. It's a fortuitous break for Parra, who last played Sept. 4 before being taken off the roster with inflammation in his right knee. The popular veteran outfielder, whose future beyond...

The Orioles play the penultimate game of the 2021 season this afternoon. After a 6-4 loss Friday night, they are back at Rogers Centre for Game 2 of the season-ending three-game series. Toronto scored twice on Danny Jansen's homer in the third inning and then opened a 6-0 lead, scoring four runs in the last of the sixth. The Orioles pulled within 6-4 in the eighth, both avoiding their 11th shutout and pushing the Blue Jays to the point they needed closer Jordan Romano to get five outs. He...

The Nationals put up a fight Friday night against the Red Sox, but couldn't convert a few golden opportunities with runners in scoring position and wound up losing 4-2. In the process, the Red Sox moved a step closer to clinching a spot in Tuesday night's American League wild card game. Their magic number is at two entering the day, so they're in with a win and losses by the Blue Jays (who play at 3:07 p.m.) and Mariners (who don't play until 9:10 p.m.). It's up to the Nats to try to delay...

Ryan McKenna is in left field and Nick Ciuffo is behind the plate this afternoon for the Orioles' penultimate game of the 2021 season. Pat Valaika is starting at second base again. His home run last night was his first since July 23. Austin Hays has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games against the Blue Jays, going 18-for-58 (.310) with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, eight RBIs and a .834 OPS. Hays has reached base safely in 18 straight games since Sept. 12, the longest active streak...

Kyle Schwarber was meeting a friend of his on the Cubs coaching staff who was in town for the upcoming weekend series in D.C. at 10:30 p.m. on July 29 when his phone rang and Mike Rizzo's name showed up as the caller. He didn't need the Nationals general manager to tell him why he was calling, only to tell him the name of the team he had just been traded to. Turns out it was the Red Sox, who were sending pitching prospect Aldo Ramirez to the Nats in exchange for the 28-year-old slugger....

Orioles area scout Brandon Verley noted he was in a very strange position on Tuesday at Camden Yards. He's used to sitting in the stands at ballparks for long hours watching players. He is not used to sitting in the O's dugout surrounded by reporters and taking questions. But there he was, talking to us about being named the club's Jim Russo Scout of the Year Award winner. "It's an incredible honor," Verley said. "You know, as a scout, we are never really in this position, in the...

The Orioles would much prefer to be hosting games late in the season that dictate whether they make the playoffs. Somewhere down the rebuild road, it's supposed to happen for them. In the meantime, while the last few games determine whether they pick first or second in next year's draft, they get a chance to see how the other half lives on its home turf. In a raucous environment. They can't catch postseason fever, which certainly would present complications during COVID-19, but they're...