The Orioles close out their series in Toronto this afternoon with Trevor Rogers on the mound, and the matchup could hardly be more demanding. Rogers takes the ball at Rogers Centre at 1:37 EDT with MASN and MASN+ carrying the game, while the Blue Jays counter with Dylan Cease in a true ace-versus-ace finale.
Rogers is headed for free agency at season’s end, and the raw totals don’t jump off the page. But since June 1, he’s been excellent: a 2.88 ERA and 2.78 FIP across 17 starts.
The Orioles got him in a 2024 trade, and he has turned into exactly the kind of pitcher a team wants to hold onto. If these are among the last starts they get from him, that’s going to sting.
Cease, meanwhile, has delivered on the kind of contract that comes with serious expectations. In the first year of his seven-year, $175 million deal, he has worked the full season and made 27 starts while posting a 2.40 ERA and a 2.48 FIP.
His FIP leads the league, and so do his hits per nine at 5.7, home runs per nine at 0.6, and strikeouts per nine at 12.97. He’ll issue a walk here and there, but when the rest of the profile is that dominant, it barely dents the picture.
The Orioles are also rolling out what looks like their best available lineup, even if there’s room to debate the batting order. The bigger question, at least from this seat, is Leody Taveras.
Heston Kjerstad is on the roster now, and there doesn’t seem to be much reason for Taveras to keep starting the rest of the way. Kjerstad may not be as strong defensively, but Taveras isn’t exactly making an ironclad case out there either.
Baltimore’s lineup features Dylan Beavers in left, Pete Alonso at first, Gunnar Henderson at short, Coby Mayo as the designated hitter, Samuel Basallo behind the plate, Christian Encarnacion-Strand at third, Jackson Holliday at second, Leody Taveras in right, and Colton Cowser in center.
Toronto answers with Brett Bateman in right, George Springer at DH, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first, Kazuma Okamoto at third, Charles McAdoo in left, Ernie Clement at second, Andrés Giménez at short, Brandon Valenzuela catching, and Myles Straw in center.
Not much sugarcoating it: this is a tough assignment for Baltimore. Let’s go O’s!
In Other News...
Orioles Have One Huge Samuel Basallo Question This Offseason
Samuel Basallo gave the Orioles a glimpse of what their future behind the plate could look like in the first half of the season, but the year did not stay on that track for long. A right shoulder injury sent the young catcher to the injured list starting July 22, interrupting a promising stretch and adding to a season already marked by left knee discomfort and a left shoulder issue.
When Basallo returned on Aug. 19, the results were harder to square with the early progress. His average, slugging and exit velocity all dropped sharply as the Orioles slipped further out of playoff contention, leaving the club to weigh what the next step should look like for one of its most important young players. The talent is still there, but the bigger question now is how Baltimore manages his health and development going into the offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Keep Their Fading Playoff Push Alive With A Late Heroics
The Orioles found just enough offense at Citi Field to keep their late-season push from slipping any further, using a tight, low-scoring night to edge the Mets 2-1. Heston Kjerstads RBI double got Baltimore on the board, and the pitching staff did the rest by holding New York to one run in a game that stayed on a razor-thin margin throughout.
Cedric Mullins, meanwhile, came through with the kind of swing the Orioles have been searching for in these tense September moments, delivering the decisive jolt after the game had settled into a deadlock. Baltimore still has work to do to keep its season alive, but wins like this are the only way forward now, especially with every mistake magnified and every inning starting to feel like a turning point. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Just Reached A Painful Point In Their Season
The Orioles have reached the point in a long, frustrating season where the standings no longer leave much room for denial. Even before the latest trip to Toronto exposed more of the same problems, Baltimores mix of inconsistent offense and shaky defense had pushed the club into a corner, with the math and the tiebreakers both working against any real hope of a postseason push.
Now the focus has to shift toward what comes next. Baltimore can use the final stretch to give younger players more meaningful looks and keep an eye on pitcher health, because the better play is no longer to chase a distant playoff path but to make sure the organization gets something useful out of the months ahead. [Read more 🡒]