There are now 11 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. Another eight exhibition games remain to be played in Florida, plus the home-and-home with the Nationals next Sunday and Monday. That includes a 6:05 game against the Yankees here tonight, the first night game of the spring schedule so far. The game will be broadcast on MASN as well as on the flagship radio stations of 98 Rock and WBAL 1090AM in Baltimore.<\/p>\n
In yesterday\u2019s game, the Orioles dropped an 8-6 result to the Pirates, with a late three-run home run surrendered by Yaramil Hiraldo making a big difference in the game. On the plus side for the Orioles, Adley Rutschman hit his second homer of spring training in the game and Dylan Beavers hit his first. The team is 8-11 in Grapefruit League action with two ties. We are at the point where I would like to start seeing some better results from the players who are definitely going to be on the Opening Day roster. Many players have been delivering through the spring schedule, so there\u2019s not too much reason to panic\u2026 well, sorta.<\/p>\n
I remain curious about when some more things will be revealed about the contours of the roster, particularly how pitchers will line up in the remainder of the rotation. When will Craig Albernaz make the decision public about whether the team goes with a five- or six-man rotation? Maybe he never will! Maybe we\u2019ll just know from the roster cuts that they make. If Zach Eflin gets put on the injured list so that he can keep building up innings to start the season, then we\u2019ll know. If Dean Kremer gets optioned to the minors, we\u2019ll know that too.<\/p>\n
In a typical season, the final, substantial cuts are made before the team heads north from Florida. That could be different this year since there is the presence of the two exhibitions in the District and in Baltimore. The team might hold off until after that game. And it is always possible to have a waiver claim or trade throwing off everyone\u2019s predicted roster between the end of the exhibition games and the roster being set on Opening Day.<\/p>\n
Mike Elias has been a big fan of this kind of move in his tenure as Orioles GM. We\u2019ll see what the run-up to the 2026 season brings.<\/p>\n
Orioles stuff you might have missed<\/p>\n
Trevor Rogers likes leading \u2018most underrated rotation in all of baseball\u2019<\/a> (The Baltimore Sun) Albernaz on choosing Rogers Opening Day starter<\/a> (School of Roch) Dylan Beavers likely bound for Opening Day roster – but he\u2019s taking nothing for granted<\/a> (Orioles.com)
I hope subsequent developments this season make this look like a fun prediction rather than a depressing one.<\/p>\n
Lots of words that don\u2019t really say much other than that Rogers pitched well last year. Which is unquestionably true.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s all say it together: BEAVERS!<\/p>\n