The postseason has already produced one of those nights where everything tilted on the bullpen. In the ALCS opener, the Guardians walked into Tampa Bay and walked out with an 85-77 regular-season club’s road upset over the heavily favored Rays, who finished 98-64. Cleveland’s 7-4 comeback turned a game that looked lined up for Tampa Bay into a mess of missed opportunities and shaky relief work.
The Rays seemed in control early. They jumped out to a two-run lead in the first inning and handed things to Drew Rasmussen, who carved through five scoreless frames.
Then Cleveland flipped the script. The Guardians scored seven times over the final four innings, getting a pair of solo homers off Rasmussen to even the game before breaking it open with a five-run burst against the bullpen.
For former Orioles relievers Tyler Wells and Cole Sulser, it was a brutal night. Combined, they were charged with five runs in the Rays’ loss.
Wells made his first postseason appearance, and his first outing in exactly a month after missing much of September with forearm tightness, but he was hit for a single and a double in the eighth while the game was tied. Both runs scored after he exited, and he took the loss.
Sulser then entered in the ninth with Tampa Bay down a run and instead watched Cleveland pull away with a three-run rally that included two singles, a walk, a wild pitch and a balk.
There’s also room to wonder about the decisions that put them there. Kevin Cash turned to Wells in a tied playoff game after a month away from the mound, then used Sulser in the ninth instead of All-Star closer Bryan Baker, another former Oriole.
Tampa Bay was still within one run, so the door to a comeback was at least cracked open. Baker shutting Cleveland down in the top of the ninth would have given the Rays a real shot in the bottom half.
Instead, that chance never materialized. Cedric Mullins did deliver a left-on-left homer in the eighth to keep Tampa Bay close for a while, but the Guardians ultimately stretched the gap beyond reach.
Tonight, the Rays try to get even with Freddy Peralta on the mound against Guardians ace Parker Messick.
In other Orioles-related notes, Rich Dubroff said it was “not a good look” for Albernaz to air out his criticisms of players in the media, and there’s some speculation that the Orioles’ beat crew may not be especially fond of him.
Meanwhile, Vance Honeycutt and other Orioles prospects have gotten off to strong starts in the Arizona Fall League. Honeycutt is still raking there, and he says his turnaround came after working with a private hitting instructor in Gaithersburg. Jon Meoli wrote that the Orioles’ AFL group matters more than ever, with some of those performances potentially deciding who gets added to the 40-man roster and who gets left out in the cold.
Today also brings a pair of Orioles birthdays: right-hander Hayden Penn turns 42, and lefty Ron Moeller, born in 1938 and died in 2009, would have been celebrating as well.
The Orioles have also played five postseason games on this date in franchise history. In 1970, they took a commanding three-games-to-none lead in the World Series with a 9-3 win over the Reds in Game 3 at Memorial Stadium.
Dave McNally not only pitched a complete game, he also hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to break things open. He became the second pitcher in postseason history to hit a grand slam, following teammate Mike Cuellar 10 days earlier in the ALCS, and Frank Robinson also homered against his former team.
In 1971, the Orioles and Pirates played the first nighttime World Series game in history, though the result wasn’t worth revisiting. In 1979, Baltimore grabbed a 3-1 Series lead over Pittsburgh with a 9-6 win after rallying from a 6-3 deficit in the eighth. John Lowenstein hit a two-run double as a pinch-hitter, Terry Crowley followed with the same, and Tim Stoddard added an RBI single before finishing with three scoreless innings.
The Orioles also have two ALCS entries on this date: a 6-4 loss to the Yankees in Game 5 in 1996, and a 4-2 win over Cleveland in Game 5 in 1997 to stay alive. In that 1997 game, Geronimo Berroa’s two-run single in the third provided the only runs for the first eight innings, Eric Davis added insurance with a ninth-inning homer, and Scott Kamieniecki and Jimmy Key held Cleveland scoreless for eight innings before Randy Myers survived a two-run scare in the ninth.
In Other News...
Former Orioles Reliever Just Became A Problem Baltimore Knows Too Well
Bryan Bakers rise has turned into one of the more familiar bullpen storylines Orioles fans have seen from afar. After Pete Fairbanks signed with the Miami Marlins, Baker stepped into the closer role for the Tampa Bay Rays and quickly made it look like a natural fit, finishing the 2026 season as one of the leagues top save men while also turning in strong work in both the regular season and the playoffs.
For Baltimore, the frustrating part is how recognizable the formula has become. Bakers improvement has been tied to a greater reliance on his changeup, a pitch that has given right-handed hitters trouble and helped unlock another level in his game. The Orioles know better than most what it looks like when a former reliever leaves town, finds a new lane and suddenly becomes the kind of late-inning problem a division rival can lean on every night. [Read more 🡒]
Rico Garcia Became An Orioles Bullpen Rock After One Rough Stretch
Rico Garcia spent 2026 becoming one of the Orioles most dependable bullpen pieces, even if the route there was anything but smooth. The 32-year-old right-hander led Baltimores relievers in appearances, innings pitched, holds and strikeouts, putting together a career-best season with a 3.09 ERA and a 9.13 strikeouts per nine innings in a role that asked him to show up often and miss enough bats to keep late innings under control.
The middle of the season brought a rougher stretch, with the home run issues spiking just enough to test his hold on that workload. Garcia responded by tweaking his pitch mix, and the result was a steadier finish that restored his effectiveness when Baltimore needed it most, a reminder that for bullpen arms, the season often comes down to adaptation as much as raw stuff. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Face A Tough Nestor German Decision This Offseason
Nestor Germans rise through the Orioles system has given the organization another tricky roster question to sort through this winter. The 11th-round pick from 2023 moved from A-ball all the way to Triple-A Norfolk, and he handled the jump well enough to keep building momentum, finishing this past season with a 4.08 ERA and a strikeout rate that suggested his stuff continued to play against tougher competition.
Now Baltimore has to decide whether that progress is enough to warrant a spot on the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft. Germans ascent has made him a real consideration rather than a name tucked away in the system, and the Orioles will have to weigh his development against the pressure that comes with protecting prospects when roster spots are at a premium. [Read more 🡒]