So, anything interesting happen this weekend? I have to admit, I was not looking forward to waiting out the end of the Braves-Marlins game Sunday afternoon, along with the Nationals and a few thousand fans, thinking it was either going to result in an anti-climactic division clinch or a bunch of wasted time with the magic number staying stuck on one. I was wrong, though, because the scene at Nationals Park when Lane Adams hit his walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th at SunTrust Park was one...

TORONTO - There were defensive miscues, an injury to a catcher and it was another night of not much offense for the Orioles. They lost 4-3 to the Toronto Blue Jays in the series opener in front of 28,401 at Rogers Centre. Three games behind the second wild card to start the night, they fall to 71-73. They are two games under .500 for the first time since they were 63-65 on Aug. 25. The Orioles have scored just eight runs during a five-game losing streak. They are 27-43 on the road and 3-8 since...

I'm in the process of dividing up the Orioles fan base, putting the "we're still alive" crowd on one side of the room and the "start playing prospects because the season's over" crowd on the other. No fighting, please. There's a special section for the "it's over" crowd that started up in June. I'm roping them off and tossing them snacks. At what point should the Orioles play Austin Hays every day in right field and get a head start on spring training? They put him on the 40-man...

TORONTO - The Orioles lost one catcher and made two errors in the bottom of the second inning tonight to trail 2-0 early on against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. It was a pretty brutal half inning. Catcher Welington Castillo took a foul ball to the groin area during Miguel Montero's at-bat which resulted in a strikeout to end the last of the first scoreless. Castillo was looked at by trainer Brian Ebel, but remained in the game for that at-bat. But Caleb Joseph was catching when the...

TORONTO - Convinced that his team can still make a run to get the second American League wild card, Orioles manager Buck Showalter today talked about his team's struggling offense. During a four-game losing streak, the Orioles have scored just five runs on 23 hits with two home runs. Have the Orioles just faced pitching that was real good or have they contributed to their recent team-wide slump? "It's both," Showalter said. "I'm always going to give credit to the opposition, but the...

TORONTO - Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman is going to start the third game of this series on Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays on five days rest. With a blister on the index finger of his right hand, he is being given an extra day after originally being scheduled to pitch tomorrow night. Now Dylan Bundy will make that start and Gausman goes the next day. Gausman, who is 10-10 with a 4.99 ERA in 30 starts, said he is fine and that he often gets blisters. "You know I get one every...

The Orioles will open the 2018 season at home against the Twins on March 29, with their first road trip to follow in Houston and the Bronx. The schedule includes two trips to the West Coast, as opposed to one this year. The Orioles play in Anaheim and Oakland May 1-6 and fly to Seattle in September for three games wedged between trips to Kansas City and Tampa - the odd stretch even by Major League Baseball standards. The final road trip takes the Orioles to the Bronx and Boston from Sept....

Mark Trumbo is starting in right field tonight and Seth Smith is the designated hitter for the Orioles' series opener against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Tim Beckham remains at shortstop. J.J. Hardy hasn't played since coming off the disabled list. Welington Castillo is catching tonight. Opponents are batting .351 against Ubaldo Jiménez in the second inning this season and he's allowed 22 runs. For the Orioles Tim Beckham SS Manny Machado 3B Jonathan Schoop 2B Adam Jones CF Trey...

TORONTO - The Orioles begin a series at Rogers Centre tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays. They are 5-2 this season in this stadium and 11-5 against Toronto. They will need that success to continue during this three-game series. With four straight losses, the Orioles (71-72) have fallen back under .500 for the first time since Aug. 26. They need to find some offense at Rogers Centre. They scored just four runs in Cleveland. During the four straight losses, the team average is .181 and they...

The Nationals clinched their fourth division title in the past six seasons on Sunday night and now have three and a half weeks before their first 2017 playoff game commences. The goal is to get everyone healthy, especially Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper. If that happens, this will be the strongest 25-man contingent that Nats have put on the field since their first splash into the postseason as a D.C. franchise in 2012. Left fielder Werth is one of those important parts of the equation. He got...