Good morning, Vogelland!

There is officially nothing left for the Orioles to play for in the regular season. Their win on Friday night made them the top wild card in the American League. That means they will host all three games of their wildcard series against the Tigers or Royals, whichever team finishes higher in the standings.

Paul defeated both of the Orioles’ potential opponents in the Wild Card round earlier this week. The Tigers pose a definite challenge as the Orioles have only played them six games, and things haven’t been going great! But the Royals are no slouch, so we’re not playing favorites. The Orioles are at home and can arrange their pitching exactly how they want.

Speaking of which, now that the Orioles have accomplished all they can accomplish, it will be interesting to see how Brandon Hyde approaches these final two games of the regular season. There aren’t enough players on the roster to seat all the starters, but he could give some key players a breather.

Adley Rutschman is the name that stands out to me as the one who gives some time off. It looks like the backstop’s bat is starting to come around at least a little bit (though still lacking in power). They need him to be as close to his 100% self as possible heading into the postseason. But there are probably a lot of guys with nagging issues that the Orioles will know better about than the public. So it’s anyone’s guess what they do.

Setting up the pitching is probably more important and simpler. There’s no reason to use Corbin Burnes or Zach Eflin this weekend. Dean Kremer is on schedule to pitch on Sunday, but that would then give him a short rest for Wednesday, which would be Game 3 of the Wild Card round. If Kremer pitches on Sunday, it will likely be a shortened outing with one of the most marginal arms following him (Matt Bowman?). But Game 3 could also be a chance to hook the right-handed Kremer with the left-handed Cade Povich.

There is a built-in day off on Monday, so the O’s don’t have to be too conservative with the bullpen. No one will pitch on consecutive days to start the playoffs. Then again, there may be a few guys this weekend who are a little sore, and Hyde will want to stay away from them.

Whatever they do, just stay healthy, get some stats and stay on an uptrend this October.

Links

This, that and another | Roch Kubatko
Keegan Akin is a great example of how sneakily good certain aspects of the Orioles bullpen have been. No, they don’t have Félix Bautista, and Seranthony Domínguez is waiting for a heart attack, but there are guys capable of turning out the lights.

O is looking forward to more baseball in October at Camden Yards | Orioles.com
Camden Yards always looks good, but there’s something special about it, happy with the postseason paint scheme. Why couldn’t this be the team to put on the first World Series games in its history?

What we learned about the Orioles’ bullpen this week in New York | The Baltimore flag
The most important thing for the bullpen is that it is healthy. Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb are back and will throw high-leverage innings in October. It would be nice to still have Craig Kimbrel from the first half, but he is long gone. That’s the most they can ask for at this time of year.

Orioles Birthdays

Is it your birthday? Congratulations!

• Mike DeJean turns 54 today. He spent part of the 2004 season in Baltimore before being traded to the Mets for outfielder Karim Garcia.
• The late Tood Frohwirth (b. 1962, d. 2017) was born on this day. From 1991 through ’93, he had a 2.71 ERA over 298.2 relief innings.
• A posthumous birthday for Grant Jackson (b. 1942, d. 2021). He had a six-season stint with the Orioles from 1971 to ’76. Over 333.1 innings, he had an ERA of 2.81.

This day in history

1953 – American League owners unanimously approve the move of the Browns franchise from St. Louis to Baltimore. The team had just come off a 54-100 season in which they had the lowest attendance in the league.

1958 – Orioles catcher Gus Triandos steals the first and only base of his entire 13-season career. He will go 1,206 consecutive games without ever being caught stealing.

1971 – The Orioles finish the season with 108 wins, becoming only the third team to ever win 100 or more games in three consecutive seasons.

2011 – One of the most incredible final days of a baseball season ever. The Orioles contribute by coming back on top by beating Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox 4-3. That, combined with an unlikely Rays victory, keeps the collapsing BoSox out of the postseason.

2023 – The Orioles earn their 100th win of the season, passing that milestone for the first time since 1980 and capturing their first AL East title since 2014.