The Orioles will start left-hander Wei-Yin Chen in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader against the Yankees and Ubaldo Jimenez in Game 2, keeping them in the same order. New York is countering with Ivan Nova and Luis Severino, though adjustments could be made if the Astros lose tonight and the Yankees clinch home field for the wild card game.
Chris Tillman, who threw a bullpen session today, will start Sunday's season finale against Michael Pineda.
Every bit of information should be accompanied by the disclaimer "weather permitting."
Manager Buck Showalter had his reasons for pitching Chen in the opener, though he wasn't disclosing all of them.
"Yes. See how it works out," he said. "We had some tiebreakers. Wei-Yin's turn to pitch. I don't want him to wait around too long, but there are some other little things that might sway you one way or the other."
Chen is 14-13 with a 3.71 ERA in 39 career starts during the day and 31-19 with a 3.73 ERA in 77 starts at night. Jimenez is 27-33 with a 4.36 ERA in 89 games during the day and 73-61 with a 3.84 ERA in 179 games at night.
The Orioles never posted a lineup for tonight's game. Second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who left yesterday's game with a bruised right hand, had no idea whether he'd play.
"I feel better than yesterday," said Schoop, who was hit by a Drew Hutchison pitch in the first inning. "Still swelled up a little bit, but I feel better than yesterday.
"I'm going to grab a bat in a bit and see if I can swing it. If I can, I'm going to play for sure."
The rain determined his status.
Schoop said last night that he couldn't make a fist with his right hand. There was slight improvement today in his flexibility.
"I squeezed a little bit," he said. "It's better than than yesterday, but I still can't squeeze it all the way like I want to. I'm going to swing a bat and see if I can follow through. If not, I'll give it one day."
The Orioles figured to rest Schoop tonight no matter the circumstances.
"Could Jonathan have played today if we played?" Showalter said "I'll never tell."
For the third time this week, the Orioles have been forced to postpone or adjust the starting time of a game.
"Routine went out a long time ago," Showalter said. "This year has been very helter skelter, but you know, we talk all the time about making the adjustments that the season throws at you and life in general. Heck, it happens in all walks, so it's one of those things."
Earlier today, first baseman Chris Davis expressed his gratitude to reporters for being named Most Valuable Oriole and also some disappointment that the club hasn't tried to negotiate a contract extension during the season. The Orioles extended center fielder Adam Jones and shortstop J.J. Hardy in past years, but Davis indicated that there's been no communication with agent Scott Boras.
Showalter seemed to hint of past discussions.
"I'm not sure that he's aware of all the conversations that may have gone on, OK?" Showalter said.
Will Showalter offer input to managing partner Peter Angelos and executive vice president Dan Duquette, expressing his desire to keep Davis?
"We're not into that," Showalter replied. "I like our guys. They're good players. I'd like to keep them. Games still being active here is not the time for those thoughts. Someone asked you, and they will and have, but there's a lot of things that I don't know about. It's not my area, but I'd like to have everything that's been a solid contributor and continue to be that way.
"I also know how the other part of it works, and I'm very careful about weighing in on things that I don't really know a lot about. This time of year, players get asked about it. They say things that they feel, sometimes without the knowledge of a lot of the other things that may be going on that you're not aware of. I know a little more than I think Chris does, but now's not the time."
Davis was named MVO for the second time in three seasons, finishing ahead of Manny Machado in a close race.
"Four guys, maybe five," Showalter said. "You could make a case for all four of them very strongly, and I would have. Chris is very deserving of strong consideration, too."
"People like Manny and Darren (O'Day) and Zach (Britton), how do you think about their contributions without them? We couldn't have been as competitive as we've been this year without him. Chris, through the ups and downs and some of the tough periods, he's been very consistent in his approach and trusted his abilities, trusted the faith that we had in him. He very quietly came in this year. I think he was very disappointed at the right things that happened last year. He wanted to be there for the club all year and be somebody we could count on, and he was."
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