Hyde's protocol props, plus notes on the MVO and more

Entering this weekend, almost all the teams in Major League Baseball were on pace to be at 60 games played through the end of the regular season on Sunday. My take is this is a real accomplishment for MLB. The sport had many doubters leading up the start of the year. And as some teams had in-season COVID outbreaks, no one could take for granted that the season would be played to its conclusion.

But it surely appears headed in that direction.

Issues could still pop up along the way during the playoffs. But to have gotten this far is an achievement that should be appreciated by all of us that watched and got a distraction from the real world in 2020.

MLB announced Friday that the sport has had no new positive tests for 26 consecutive days and for 34 of the last 35 days.

Officials reported the number of monitoring samples collected and tested in the past week was 13,279. Of those, just two - 0.02 percent - were new positives. There were zero new positives among MLB players in the past week. The two positive tests were for staff members. For the year, the total number of monitoring samples collected (since the initial intake) and tested has been 140,997. Of those, 90, or 0.06 percent, have been new positives. Of that number, 57 have been players and 33 have been staff members.

Against some long odds and numerous predictions that they would never get far in this season, the players and teams have. Kudos to all for doing what was necessary to keep the engine running, players healthy and the sport available on our TVs every night.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was asked about how his team has dealt with the extensive protocols implemented during this year.

"I thought we've handled it as well as you could possibly handle it," he said. "Think it started with our ownership, senior leadership group, to our training staff that's been amazing. And helping keep us safe. Putting protocols in place and being around constantly to remind us and make us aware. And I think our players have followed suit and handled it in an incredible manner. So really proud of how not only our team, but our organization has handled this year. It's been different, but I think we've done the best we could."

Mountcastle makes the squad: MLBPipeline.com this week named its 2020 MLB All-Rookie team and the Orioles' Ryan Mountcastle made the first team, which includes players from both leagues. He is joined in the outfield by Luis Robert of the Chicago White Sox and Seattle's Kyle Lewis. All three players should get American League Rookie of the Year votes.

Heading into Friday's games, Mountcastle was first among AL rookies (minimum 110 plate appearances) in three-hit games (5), second in OPS (.878), batting average (.325) and slugging (.500), third in OBP (.378), fourth in multi-hit games (12), fifth in hits (37), sixth in RBIs (22), and seventh in home runs (5).

He went 2-for-3 with a walk last night in Buffalo. Mountcastle is batting .333/.389/.504 with five doubles, five homers, 22 RBIs and an OPS of .894.

Final thoughts: Right-hander Jorge López picked a bad time to pitch so poorly. He gave up nine hits and eight runs in two-plus innings to Toronto as the Orioles lost 10-5. His ERA as an O's starting pitcher jumped from 3.95 to 6.14. The final numbers don't look good. But along the way López did show some things the O's clearly liked.

Is he in the rotation for 2021? I would say he's a candidate but has no firm grip on a spot. He'll need to prove himself next February and March. And young pitchers coming from down below keep getting closer to getting their chances. Pitchers like Zac Lowther, Alexander Wells and Michael Baumann, to name just three.

On my ballot for Most Valuable Oriole I had Anthony Santander first, José Iglesias second and Ryan Mountcastle third. A strong case could be made for each of them, but Santander was named MVO yesterday.

For me, the fact that the guy led the entire AL in extra-base hits when he got hurt was a real plus. His run production was strong, not just on this team but in comparison to the top hitters in the league. Beyond that, his defense was solid. Metrics like outs above average liked his work and he leads the club with four outfield assists. He was strong on offense and defense.

At 25, Santander is a core piece for the O's future. I can see Mountcastle, Austin Hays and Santander playing in the O's outfield many nights next year.