Last night was a perfect example of how special the game of baseball can be. On paper, the Astros seemed to have an obvious advantage in the series opener. They had Framber Valdez on the mound, one of the sport’s best lefties against a lineup that has really struggled with southpaws this year. For the Orioles, they turned to Brandon Young, a rookie that was yet to win a game and was coming off, perhaps, his worst start so far. All signs pointed towards an easy Astros win.

So, of course, what actually happened was that the Orioles smacked Valdez around, Young had a perfect game through 7.2 innings, and the visitors won going away.

That was a special performance for Young. The righty has struggled during his first taste of major league action. And with both Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells nearing a return from the injury list, he feels like the odd man out once the team needs to adjust the rotation. But with starts like he provided last night in Houston, he is going to make that decision as difficult as possible. Good for him!

Making it even better is that Young grew up 90 minutes outside of Houston as an Astros fan. He had tons of family and friends in attendance, which the MASN broadcast showed many times. They were all living and dying with every pitch, and why wouldn’t they! Brandon was out there tossing a gem. It must have felt like a dream.

Maybe all Young needs is for his family to watch all of his starts in person, or maybe—and just hear me out on this one—all he needs is someone named “Young” to simply be comped tickets to all of his starts from here on out? Thoughts? OK, fine. You don’t have to pull my arm. I will volunteer! Anything for the betterment of the Orioles, I guess.

Hopefully Cade Povich can capture some of that magic tonight. He was good last time out against the Athletics and will be working on an extra day of rest.

Lots of this, that and the other | Roch Kubatko
As Roch points out, there were several tense moments in last night’s game, mostly related to the Orioles nervous defense. It felt like the fielders were feeling the pressure to keep the perfect game in fact. That included Young himself, who was the one to make the error that ended the perfecto. He probably could have taken an extra second to set his feet. But it’s tough to do that in the heat of the moment.

After ‘shock’ of trade, former Orioles infielder Ramón Urías prepares for Astros’ playoff race | The Baltimore Banner
The Orioles had one player (Trey Mancini) recently win a World Series with the Astros after a midseason trade. Could Urías be the second? Personally, I am rooting for the Mets and Cedric Mullins, but that doesn’t seem like a choice likely to succeed right now.

Brandon Young on a familiar roller coaster for Orioles pitchers | The Baltimore Sun
The Orioles sure have accumulated some decent starting depth within the organization. Now if they could just put together a front-half of the rotation they will be in business!

Top 25 potential MLB free agents for 2025-26 as the offseason draws nearer | The Athletic
No team has enough pitching. The Orioles need much, much more of it going into 2026. I would like to see them add a bonafide number one or two plus another backend/“prove it” type of arm on a one-year deal. And that’s before we even discuss their needs in the bullpen.

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

Bret Barberie turns 58 today. The infielder spent the 1995 season in Baltimore, accumulating 1.1 bWAR as a solid fielder with a light bat.The late Gene Brabender (b. 1941, d. 1996) was born on this day. From 1966 through ‘68 he tossed 289.2 innings for the Orioles between the rotation and the bullpen.The late Gene Woodling (b. 1922, d. 2001) was born on this day. His time with the O’s was split into two stints, first in 1955 and then again from ‘58-‘60. In total, the outfielder was worth 8.5 bWAR and had a 126 OPS+ as an Oriole.

This day in O’s history

1996 – In game one of a doubleheader, the Orioles score 14 runs in the final three innings to beat the Athletics 14-3. They also take the nightcap 5-4 to sweep the day.

1999 – Former Orioles pitcher Juan Guzmán, now pitching for the Reds, has to leave his start after seven innings because his shoes are too small. The righty had been traded from Baltimore to Cincinnati at the end of July, but had yet to receive new cleats that were the appropriate size in team colors. He tried to pitch in the too-small 9.5 red Puma shoes he had, but developed blisters.