Any Orioles fans that are rooting against the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series now have another reason to root for a Royals loss this afternoon. Kansas City is chasing the Orioles in the record book. The Royals have won eight straight ALCS games dating to 1985. That is the second-longest win streak in Major League Baseball history. The Orioles hold the mark with 10 wins in a row in the ALCS, from 1969-73. On the mound this afternoon, left-hander David Price pitches...

When names are floated as the potential next manager of the Washington Nationals, none has the ties to the organization as Alex Cora. Sure Cora only played one of his 14 years in the majors with the Nationals, but he quickly and clearly made an impression. Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo signed Cora before spring training in 2011 and the veteran infielder batted .224 in 91 games in what ended up as his last season in the majors. But Rizzo took note of Cora's work around the field as a...

I can't stop talking about first baseman Jose Marmolejos-Diaz, who tore up the South Atlantic league for the low Single-A Hagerstown Suns on his way to earning organizational Player of the Year honors. First and foremost, it is fun for play-by-play announcers just to roll his name off the tongue when he steps to the plate or makes a backhanded stab of a hot shot at first base. "First time you say it, it's kind of a fun name to say, let alone how good a player he is," said Hagerstown manager...

The Orioles are expected to announce their coaching staff by Monday, though the date is flexible. Don't plan your entire day around it. Bench coach John Russell, third base coach Bobby Dickerson, hitting coach Scott Coolbaugh and bullpen coach Dom Chiti have signed their contracts. Those four are confirmed. The odds seem to have improved that the entire staff will return in 2016. We'll find out. Manager Buck Showalter has returned to Dallas after meeting yesterday with managing partner Peter...

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop turned 24 yesterday. Is his future so bright that you need sunglasses to look at it? Johnny Baseball was likely the most improved player on the 2015 Orioles and he had the stat sheet to prove it: Schoop in 2014: .209 average, .244 OBP, .354 slugging, .598 OPS, 65 OPS+ Schoop in 2015: .279 average, .306 OBP, .482 slugging, .788 OPS, 110 OPS+ Schoop's walk rate (which is too low) and his strikeout rate (which is too high) didn't change much in 2015 from...

The two teams with the best records in the American League meet tonight in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series when Kansas City (95-67) hosts Toronto (93-69). Both teams produced stirring comebacks to advance to this series. The Blue Jays became only the third team to win a best-of-five series when losing the first two at home as they beat Texas. Kansas City trailed Houston 2-1 in the series and trailed by four runs in the eighth inning of Game 4 before a comeback that led to...

When Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo addressed the media after dismissing Matt Williams, much of the attention was focused on Rizzo's repeated mention of the next manager bringing previous managerial experience in the majors to the table. But Rizzo also stressed several other important qualities. "As we go through the laundry list of things that we look for in our manager and the perfect leader of the ballclub on the field, leadership qualities, knowledge of the game, Xs and Os, are all...

As Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette works to get all of the coaches under contract for 2016, he has one fewer task at hand than what's been reported. It turns out that bench coach John Russell agreed to a two-year deal last month, according to a source, so he's in the fold through the 2017 season. The contracts of all seven coaches, including assistant hitting coach Einar Diaz, were set to expire this season. Duquette confirmed on Wednesday that he extended offers to everyone on...

No matter how many years pass, Camden Yards continues to age like a fine wine or Jim Palmer. Stadium Journey released its annual rankings of all 30 major league baseball stadiums. The top 10 reads as follows: 1. Oriole Park at Camden Yards - Baltimore Orioles 2. PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates 3. Busch Stadium - St. Louis Cardinals 4. Fenway Park - Boston Red Sox 5. Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs 6. Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks 7. Target Field - Minnesota Twins 8. Coors Field - Colorado...

Second baseman Chris Bostick, a late addition to Arizona Fall League play, unloaded Thursday with two homers as Salt River outpaced Peoria 9-7. Bostick went 3-for-4 with two-run shots in the sixth and eighth innings. He finished with three runs and four RBIs. Each of his homers gave the Rafters the lead: Down 4-3, his first made it 5-4 and tied at 5-5, his homer made it 7-5. He had two stolen bases on Wednesday and is hitting .375 in his first three games in Arizona. The speedy Bostick replaced...