The Orioles are stockpiling catchers in the early days of their offseason.

Two more arrived today, with the Orioles claiming Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary off waivers from the Reds.

A full 40-man roster required two corresponding moves, and the Orioles designated relievers Louis Head and Beau Sulser for assignment.

Garcia, who turns 30 in January, is a right-handed hitter and second-round pick of the Giants in the 2014 draft out of Florida International University. He appeared in 47 games with the Reds this summer and batted .213/.248/.259 with two doubles, one home run, three walks and 34 strikeouts in 115 plate appearances.

The Reds were Garcia’s third major league team. He played in 37 games with the Giants in 2018-19 and 32 with the Athletics in 2021 and is a career .216/.253/.332 hitter with five doubles, 10 home runs, 25 RBIs, 10 walks and 114 strikeouts in 320 plate appearances. He’s thrown out 12 of 43 runners attempting to steal.

The Orioles got a lot of mileage out of moving back the left field wall about 30 feet.

Every fly ball that approached the warning track would elicit references to previous seasons and how another batter was robbed of a home run by the new dimensions rather than an outfielder.

It got a little tired for me, to be honest, but I understood the obsession. And the importance of balancing the playing field.

The cheap home runs became a joke, except no one with the Orioles was laughing.

An article from CBS Sports in late August noted how the ballpark was averaging 1.87 home runs per game this season compared to 3.36 from 2019-21. Only 8.8 percent of fly balls and line drives found the left field seats compared to 13.5 from 2019-21. 

The Orioles made their second roster move since ending the 2022 season, claiming outfielder Jake Cave off waivers from the Twins today and designating reliever Jake Reed for assignment.

An industry source confirmed the waiver claim, which appeared on the major league transactions page.

Cave, 29, appeared in 54 games with the Twins and batted .213/.260/.384 with seven doubles, three triples, five home runs and 20 RBIs in 177 plate appearances. He’s a career .235/.297/.411 hitter in parts of five major league seasons.

The Yankees selected Cave in the sixth round of the 2011 draft out of Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Va. The Reds chose him in the 2015 Rule 5 draft and returned him on April 5, 2016. The Yankees traded Cave to the Twins on March 16, 2018 for pitcher Luis Gil.

As a rookie in 2018, Cave batted .265/.313/.473 with 16 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs and 45 RBIs in 91 games. He hasn’t played a full season in the majors, with those 91 games representing his career high.

The Orioles made an adjustment to their 40-man roster on the first day of their offseason.

Catcher Anthony Bemboom’s contract was selected this afternoon from Triple-A Norfolk, and right-hander Anthony Castro was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Bemboom didn’t play for the Orioles after No. 1 prospect Adley Rutschman arrived on May 21. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Norfolk six days later.

The Orioles signed Bemboom to a minor league contract and he broke camp with the team, beating out Jacob Nottingham as the backup to veteran Robinson Chirinos. He appeared in 22 games and went 6-for-52 (.115) with two doubles and a home run.

Bemboom threw out three of eight runners attempting to steal.

Jorge Mateo slapped a ground ball to the right side of the infield in the ninth inning, from mitt to first base to the final out of the 2022 season.

Fans stood and cheered the Orioles after a 5-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the doubleheader. The team came back out of the dugout with caps held high in the air. Some players waved and others returned the applause.

Manager Brandon Hyde intended to play everyone today. No one would be left on the bench on the last day, with a makeup doubleheader carrying them to their 162^nd game.

A winning record was intact. Stats could be padded before players scattered for the winter. Go home, rest, and get ready to make a stronger run within the division in 2023.

But first, an emotional send-off.

The Orioles and Blue Jays are taking contrasting approaches to today’s doubleheader, an understandable development considering how only one team is preparing for the wild card round that begins on Friday.

Mike Baumann started Game 1 for the Orioles and worked into the sixth inning. The Jays used five relievers within the first five innings, including closer Jordan Romano, who stranded a pair of runners in the fourth.

No one likes a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season. It’s especially distasteful for Toronto, which led until the eighth inning.

Until rookie Terrin Vavra lined a two-out fastball from Mitch White onto the flag court in right field, his first major league homer a three-run shot that gave the Orioles a 5-4 win in the opener at Camden Yards.

One team suddenly felt a lot better about the doubleheader.

The Orioles were saddled with two games on the final day of the 2022 season, an inconvenient doubleheader born from the club’s fifth rainout. A final jab from the baseball gods.

Nothing really hurt the Orioles this summer beyond their official elimination from the wild card chase. Being in it after national projections of 100-plus losses felt like a huge win.

Many more are expected in the coming years.

“Looking at the entire organization, I think we’re very pleased with everything that happened up and down the organization this year,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said this morning. “First and foremost, the way that this team played and competed at the major league level is something that I think rightfully our players and coaches deserve a lot of credit for. We’re not where we want to be or need to be in the division. It’s very daunting looking at these other four, not only teams but organizations in our division, picturing having to beat them to make it to the playoffs next year, but that’s our goal and we feel that the organization is in a position now to realistically pursue that goal for next year. So that’s going to be my focus this offseason, and I think the focus of our squad when we meet in Sarasota next year.

“It’s not going to be easy, given who we have to compete against and who we have to play against, but as I said in the summer, I feel like this team is officially in the fight in the American League East, and that’s a big achievement. It doesn’t mean we’re going to be complacent about it. We know that we had some relatively good health this season. We had some guys have good seasons. It’s tough to repeat in this league. Players make adjustments against you, we’ve got a lot of young guys. We may have some individual steps back, but we plan to hopefully reinforce this group, keep helping the players improve, and hope that we can take another step forward next season and get into the playoffs that we narrowly missed out on this year.”

The Orioles can’t get away clean. They must play a doubleheader against the Blue Jays today before scattering for the offseason.

Mike Baumann starts Game 1 after yesterday’s rainout. So, to review:

Baumann is making his fourth start and 13^th appearance. He’s completed four innings in his two starts since being plugged into the rotation on Sept. 24, throwing 58 and 74 pitches.

Baumann also started Game 1 of a Sept. 5 doubleheader against the Jays and allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings. He tossed two scoreless relief innings on Sept. 16 in Toronto.

Gunnar Henderson is playing third base and batting fifth. Terrin Vavra is the second baseman and Ryan McKenna is in left field.

The Orioles will close out the 2022 season by playing a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Tonight’s game with the Blue Jays was postponed due to rain. A traditional, single-admission doubleheader has been announced, with the opener set for 12:35 p.m. Game 2 begins approximately 30 minutes after the final out.

Just one more oddity after the lockout delayed spring training and opening day and forced an adjustment to the schedule, which tagged this series at the end of it.

Mike Baumann starts Game 1 and Spenser Watkins starts Game 2.

The Blue Jays are sending Mitch White to the mound for Game 1. Game 2 is undecided.

Gunnar Henderson is the cleanup hitter tonight in the Orioles’ penultimate game of the 2022 season.

The forecast calls for rain all day and night, but that’s the plan.

Jesús Aguilar is the first baseman, with Ryan Mountcastle on the bench. Ryan McKenna is the left fielder and Austin Hays is in right.

Terrin Vavra is starting at second base instead of Rougned Odor.

Mike Baumann is making his fourth start and 13^th appearance. He’s lasted four innings in his two starts since being plugged into the rotation on Sept. 24, throwing 58 and 74 pitches.

The Orioles had to dig deep for motivation tonight.

They didn’t play in front of 45,000 hostile fans. A home run record didn’t hang in the balance. They had already fallen out of the wild card chase and secured the first winning season since 2016.

The temperature at first pitch was 49 degrees, the coldest in Baltimore at the start in four years, with rain falling throughout the night. Weather that scaled back the crowd.

But the statistics count and the wins matter. They had a chance to claim one more series and perhaps influence where the Blue Jays will begin the playoffs.

Dean Kremer braved the elements and grinded through six innings in his final appearance, but the Orioles didn’t offer much support in a 5-1 loss, in a game delayed and then halted after Yennier Canó allowed a run in the eighth and loaded the bases with two outs.

The Orioles have recalled reliever Yennier Canó from Triple-A Norfolk and placed Félix Bautista on the 15-day injured list with left knee discomfort. Bautista is done for 2022.

The rookie made the 40-man roster and then the opening day roster and finished with a 2.19 ERA and 0.929 WHIP in 65 appearances, which tied for second-most behind Dillon Tate’s 66. He recorded 15 saves, 13 after the Jorge López trade to Minnesota, and he allowed 38 hits and struck out 88 batters in 65 2/3 innings.

Bautista averaged 3.2 walks per nine innings, compared to 5.1 in seven minor league seasons.

“We’re going to shut him down for the rest of the season, unfortunately,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “So happy with the season he had and him going forward. What a great story. Great story for us, great story for him. Love watching him pitch, and looking forward to having him next year.”

Bautista, who received votes on the Most Valuable Oriole ballot, said earlier today that his knee felt better and he could come out of the bullpen if allowed.

The Orioles begin the final series of the 2022 season tonight with the Blue Jays arriving in town.

They won’t have Félix Bautista available in the bullpen. He’s been shut down with lingering soreness in his left knee. A roster move is coming.

Gunnar Henderson is the third baseman tonight and Terrin Vavra is in left field. Kyle Stowers is in right.

Dean Kremer has a 3.17 ERA and 1.257 WHIP in 21 games (20 starts). He’s surrendered only 10 home runs in 119 1/3 innings, though two came in his last start in Boston.

Kremer has allowed six earned runs and seven total in 18 innings against Toronto this season.

NEW YORK – The rain, wind and cold didn’t matter. Aaron Judge’s pursuit of a home run record and the hostile reaction from fans denied it also didn’t matter.

The Orioles didn’t bus into the Bronx for three days to stake out their place in history. They wanted to win the series. They wanted an 82^nd victory and assurances that they’d finish on the right side of .500.

Gunnar Henderson drew a bases-loaded walk off Aroldis Chapman in the seventh inning to break a tie, Bryan Baker registered his 10^th scoreless appearance in a row by retiring all six batters faced and the Orioles defeated the Yankees 3-1 before an announced crowd of 45,332 to guarantee their first winning record since 2016 with three games to play at home.

"I think it's an accomplishment definitely from where we came from last year, 30 win difference, and still got a few games to go," said manager Brandon Hyde. "Proud of our guys with the season they've had."

Dillon Tate notched his fifth save with an uneventful ninth inning.

NEW YORK – The Orioles have set two-thirds of their rotation for the final series of 2022.

Dean Kremer and Mike Baumann are starting the first two games against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards. The spot for Wednesday afternoon is listed as TBA.

Manager Brandon Hyde said he wants to check on veteran Jordan Lyles, who’s made a career-high 32 starts this season and is one inning short of the career-high 180 he reached last year with the Rangers.

Grayson Rodriguez, the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball, has been throwing to stay ready in case of a late promotion, but the Orioles aren’t expected to select his contract this week.

Asked about Rodriguez, Hyde said, “That would be a question for Mike (Elias). Moving prospects to the big leagues, those are directed to the front office decisions.”

NEW YORK – The Orioles have reached the final road game of the 2022 season.

A win would make the Orioles 38-43 away from home. But the forecast today is brutal. The Yankees will make every attempt to play with a sellout crowd hoping to witness Aaron Judge’s 62^nd home run.

Kyle Stowers is the designated hitter today. Terrin Vavra is playing second base.

Rookie Kyle Bradish is making his final start of the season. He’s registered a 5.11 ERA and 1.393 WHIP in 22 games.

Bradish tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings with only two hits allowed, no walks and 10 strikeouts against the Astros on Sept. 22, but he lasted only 2 1/3 innings in Boston and was charged with seven runs.

NEW YORK – The mood yesterday morning inside and outside the Orioles’ clubhouse made it appear that Game 162 was due to begin in a few hours.

The media was armed with reflective questions on the season. The pain and disappointment of falling out of the wild card race. The pride and joy of lasting until the morning of Oct. 1. When it dawned on the team that it could win. What needs to be done to improve in 2023.

The Orioles were preparing for Game 158.

Elimination felt like the end, but the Orioles want to claim their weekend series in the Bronx and return home to fans who should salute them. And hop on flights Wednesday night or Thursday morning as the first Orioles team to finish above .500 since 2016.

They’re only guaranteed to be .500 with their 81 victories.

NEW YORK – Austin Hays didn’t know that the Mariners won early this morning, the final bump that knocked the Orioles out of the wild card race, until he had rolled out of bed, showered and dressed, and headed downstairs to the team bus.

Players were talking about it. How they were forced to move into a different phase of their season, the mindset altered to where satisfaction must come only from being a .500 club, with an opportunity to finish on the winning side.

The playoff dream disappeared, but they had a little more work to do.

Keeping Aaron Judge at 61 home runs was accomplished again. Doing anything good against Nestor Cortes remained a futile endeavor.

The former Orioles Rule 5 pick and two-week reliever in 2018 held the Orioles to one hit and struck out 12 in 7 1/3 innings in the Yankees’ 8-0 victory before an announced crowd of 45,428.

NEW YORK – The quest has shifted for the Orioles. Finish above .500. That’s it beyond personal numbers.

A Mariners win early this morning eliminated the Orioles from wild card contention. Five games remain in the season.

Gunnar Henderson is batting leadoff today and playing third base. Adley Rutschman is batting third as the designated hitter.

Cedric Mullins stays in the lineup but moves down to sixth. Ryan McKenna is in left field and Austin Hays is in right as the cleanup hitter.

Anthony Santander is on the bench.

NEW YORK – The Orioles keep trying to win games while hoping that perspective isn’t lost on their 2022 season.

They were supposed to lose 100 games again. At least. They were supposed to curse the new lottery system for the right to pick first in the 2023 draft.

To be in contention for a wild card on the last day of September was a monumental achievement. The final record can’t chop it down.

The Orioles could hit a wall instead of running the table and they’d still be worthy of gushing praise.

The Mariners’ win over the Athletics, past midnight and about 30 minutes into October, eliminated the Orioles from the wild card race. It finally happened, with only five games left.