![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/EJHOFDBOOBFJFNKKPWKNYOZWHQ.jpg\")
Gunnar Henderson #2 and Colton Cowser #17 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrate after winning a baseball game against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sept. 19, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland. (Jess Rapfogel\/Getty Images\/TNS) <\/p>\n
CLEVELAND \u2014 After Orioles games, Gunnar Henderson is usually sitting at his locker, decompressing on his iPhone.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the Orioles shortstop hops on Clash Royale, an online head-to-head strategy game, to unwind after a three-hour baseball game. Following an Orioles game this season, Henderson was approached by the media for a postgame scrum, and he asked for one minute so he could finish the Clash Royale battle he was in the middle of playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a high rank; I can\u2019t throw away any game,\u201d said the ultra-competitive Henderson.<\/p>\n
After talking with the media, Henderson revealed that he lost his Clash Royale match. Was it against a fellow teammate?<\/p>\n
\u201cSome random, definitely not someone in here,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n
While Henderson might believe none of his teammates can beat him, there are several who are gunning for him. The Orioles\u2019 clubhouse has fallen back in love with Clash Royale, a game that came out in 2016, this year, and it\u2019s one of the many things that players are bonding over away from the field to open the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just something different,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cYou spend all your time playing baseball, so just having something else to kind of bond over is good to have. It can only help the clubhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Clash Royale craze started during spring training, and it\u2019s grown to include at least 15 players. T-shirts were ordered to wear around the locker room, and there\u2019s no shortage of trash talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another way that we can kind of mesh and spend time getting to know each other,\u201d pitcher Shane Baz said. \u201cIt\u2019s just being competitive. All of us love to do that. We\u2019re all really competitive, and I think it just helps us stay in that mindset. All of us just love to compete, whether it\u2019s literally anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The creation of the clan happened organically. Baz, who\u2019s played consistently since 2023, was playing it in the clubhouse one day during spring training. Someone told him Henderson is a Clash Royale player. Chris Bassitt was already, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were playing each other and it was kind of getting loud in the clubhouse, so guys would ask what we were playing,\u201d Baz said. \u201cIt started quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simpler days of spring training \u2014 and the long bus rides up and down Florida\u2019s Suncoast \u2014 created easy opportunities to grind on Clash Royale, a spin-off of Clash of Clans. The goal of the game is to destroy the other player\u2019s tower. Each player has a deck of eight strategy cards \u2014 ones they choose across the game\u2019s 200 options \u2014 and the more you play, the better your deck gets. Each match takes only three to five minutes.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/VBYOCCIRFJFKRDABN727ALTR2U.jpg\")
Sometimes, the Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson hops on Clash Royale, an online head-to-head strategy game, to unwind after a three-hour baseball game. (Dreamstime\/TNS) <\/p>\n
During the grind of a 162-game season, it\u2019s more difficult. The best times to play are during the short bus rides to and from the airport, ballpark and hotel. The Orioles have yet to have a rain delay this season, but the game will be perfect the first time they\u2019ve got to sit in the clubhouse and wait for Mother Nature to do her thing.<\/p>\n
While the group has grown to about 60% of the clubhouse, among the core players are Baz, Henderson, Bassitt and Colton Cowser. That\u2019s who the most heated battles are between. Other players include Pete Alonso, Anthony Nunez, Ryan Helsley, Samuel Basallo, Adley Rutschman, Dean Kremer and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not PG,\u201d Baz said with a chuckle. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty extreme. We\u2019re yelling at each other most of the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hooked,\u201d Baz added. I think my fianc\u00e9e would attest to it. She\u2019s like, \u2018You need to chill out.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Clash Royale came out in 2016, and Henderson, then in ninth grade, was an early player. He\u2019s played on and off over the past decade, but he\u2019s been even more consistent since becoming a big leaguer. Most of the Orioles\u2019 clubhouse are gamers \u2014 from Fortnite on the controller to Clash Royale on the phone to cards, ping-pong and billiards \u2014 and Henderson is no different. His other favorite phone game is Brawl Stars.<\/p>\n
Henderson was away at the World Baseball Classic when Baz and the others started going against each other on Clash Royale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got back, I was told to get back on it,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cWe\u2019re heavy into it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helsley, also new to the Orioles like Baz, first played Clash Royale as a minor leaguer. The game, the closer said, was common on the minor league teams he played on nearly a decade ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen everyone said they were playing it in here and they had a clan, I think it kind of got a spark going, and everyone hopped back on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Helsley, who graded himself as a \u201cB\u201d on Clash Royale, spent the first six and a half years of his MLB career with the St. Louis Cardinals and then was with the New York Mets for two months. He\u2019d never been in a clan with his teammates in the big leagues. Admittedly, his gaming time has drastically reduced since he and his wife, Alex, had their first of two daughters in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you have kids, your gaming time really goes out the door,\u201d Helsley said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, once you have some free time, the last thing you want to do is sit there and scream at the TV and get pissed off. I just want to relax.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Clash Royale fully became a thing in the clubhouse, Bassitt bought 20 T-shirts off Amazon for the guys to wear around the clubhouse. It just so happened that one of the shirts had Henderson\u2019s favorite emote \u2014 a green goblin mock crying with his hands. It\u2019s Henderson\u2019s go-to troll when beating teammates in the clan.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made sure to get me that one because I hit him with it a couple times,\u201d Henderson said.<\/p>\n
But is Henderson\u2019s claim that he\u2019s the best true? It depends who you ask.<\/p>\n
Dylan Beavers hasn\u2019t been playing as much recently, but there\u2019s no doubt in his mind about who the best player is.<\/p>\n
\u201cGunnar is the best, for sure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Baz said the crown is between him and Henderson. The two even watch each other play, give each other notes and talk about how they can get better at the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, Bassitt would say he\u2019s the best, but he\u2019s absolutely not,\u201d Baz said. \u201cGunnar is good. But I like my odds against anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson gave credit to Baz, Bassitt and Kremer as other players worthy of his praise, but he didn\u2019t shy away from what he views as the title he\u2019s earned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the most trophies. I\u2019ve got the most time into this game,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cSo yeah, I\u2019d like to take that crown as the best player on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baz said the Orioles\u2019 clubhouse might have more Clash Royale-related accessories up its sleeves. He said they\u2019re \u201cworking on something\u201d with a 3D printer.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ll leave that one as a little surprise,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gunnar Henderson #2 and Colton Cowser #17 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrate after winning a baseball game against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[152,143,47,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-680833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-orioles","8":"tag-american-league","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles","11":"tag-baltimoreorioles","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-orioles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116446951404572630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}