A few notes and quotes as game time approaches

Now that the Orioles survived a rocky second half, one where they needed to win their final three games to play .500 ball (33-33), manager Brandon Hyde hopes the team gains something from the adversity.

“I’m hoping it makes us tougher honestly,” Hyde said Monday at Camden Yards. “The adversity our guys went through this year, I hope it benefits us this postseason. I think it’s going to benefit guys in the future.

“I think last year’s (playoff) experience, of what that felt like at the end, when we did have that kind of fairytale season and a quick exit. I’m hoping these guys still have that taste in their mouth going into this postseason.”

According to at least one of the guys, the Orioles do.

They lost to the Rangers three straight in the American League Division Series last year by scores of 3-2, 11-8 and 7-1. A long successful season was followed by a quick out in the postseason.

Jordan Westburg was asked today if the memory of the Texas series loss can somewhat fuel his team now.

“I think it can build off an earlier question, can we play angry?” said Westburg. “I think a lot of us, as much as you want to forget, remember that series last year. I certainly remember being the last out of it. I don’t want to do that again and I’m going to carry that as a little bit of fire in me. A sense of urgency maybe. I hope a lot of guys do that.

“I think this team has a lot of tough guys, it has a lot of gritty guys, has a lot of guys who play with maybe a little bit of a chip on their shoulder even if it’s unnecessary.

"I think it’s good. I think it’s good to play with passion and fire. So yeah, hopefully we can draw back on what that felt like and try to avoid that.”

During the playoffs, we often hear players talk about trying to make it just like another game and slow the game down as they might during the regular season. O's skipper Brandon Hyde was asked today if that applies to the managers too.

“Yeah absolutely. You definitely remind yourself to breathe. Try to be as clear-headed as you possibly can when bullets are flying and things are moving fast. And there are different types of scenarios and situations.

“You want to trust your preparation and how much work you put in and experiences you’ve had and trust the people around you, when you have three seconds to make a decision. But it is about staying relaxed and calm in the moment, just like a player needs to," said Hyde.

From the Royals side: Kansas City is getting a big bat and its No. 3 hitter back for this series. The Royals, who scored just 20 runs their last 11 regular season games, activated Vinnie Pasquantino.

He usually hits between Bobby Witt Jr., who bats second and Salvador Perez who hits fourth, and he will today.

He has been out with a fractured right thumb since Aug. 30. During the regular season over 131 games, Pasquantino hit 19 homers with 97 RBIs and a .760 OPS.

“It was probably about 10 days ago it became more a little bit more real that it might happen,” K.C. general manager JJ Picollo said. “That was when he progressed from hitting the softer baseballs to baseballs. We had a great plan to get him on track and when he took live BP Saturday in Atlanta it was pretty apparent he was going to be ready as early as today.”

Pasquantino, who is 5-for-20 with a homer against the Orioles this year, will not play in the field this series.

On their roster for this series, the Royals have carried 11 pitchers and 15 position players while the O’s went 12 and 14.

“We considered every avenue,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We use our roster. We pinch-run, we pinch-hit. We think that’s the best way to match up throughout this series with these guys. We need to be able to pinch-run and do the things that we’ve done all season.

“At the same time, on the pitching side, our strength has been our pitching and if the guys perform we feel like we’re going to be fine with that amount of depth. We also have length in the bullpen with Brady (Singer) and with (Daniel) Lynch. And, at this time of the year, work loads and that kind of things are kind of out of the window.”

Kansas City recorded 30 more wins this season (86-76) than last year (56-106). It was the largest increase in wins from one full season to the next in Royals history and the second largest by any MLB in 2009. The Orioles had a 31-win improvement from 2021 (52-110) to 2022 (83-79).

Neither team took batting practice today and, as of near 2 p.m., the tarp was still on the field. No announcement yet if there will be a delayed start or not.