Facing a win or go home, the season's over scenario, the Orioles host the Kansas City Royals today in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card round series at Oriole Park. 

There were just 10 hits yesterday as Kansas City pushed across a sixth-inning run to beat the Orioles 1-0, who now have a nine-game postseason losing streak.

Bobby Witt Jr. singled in the only run as Kansas City moved to within one win of advancing to the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees.

The Orioles, who scored 22 runs in sweeping Minnesota over the weekend and 56 runs in their last 10 regular-season games, were shut out. It was their fourth shutout over the last 20 games since Sept. 8.

O's right-hander Corbin Burnes went eight-innings plus one batter allowing five hits and one run on 84 pitches. Burnes, who has never thrown a complete game came close yesterday. His career-long outing was 8 1/3 innings on July 18, 2021 for Milwaukee at Cincinnati.

If the Orioles reach the Division Series, Game 1 would be played Saturday at 6:38 p.m. at Yankee Stadium. Game 2 would be played Monday at 7:38 p.m.

They need to get there first, and a loss today destroys that goal.

Colton Cowser is the cleanup hitter this afternoon, Adley Rutschman is catching and Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter.

Zach Eflin pitched for the Rays in Kansas City on July 4 and allowed five earned runs and six total in five innings. He owns a 5.09 ERA in four career starts against them totaling 23 innings.

Eflin tossed a complete-game shutout against the Royals on May 11, 2019 with the Phillies.

After Orioles starting pitchers covered just eight innings in the 2023 American League Division Series versus Texas, O’s 2024 ace Corbin Burnes matched that innings total in one night.

He was that good.

But even giving up one run was too many on this night as the Orioles were held to five hits, went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and were shutout 1-0 by Kansas City in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card round.

The Orioles had scored 22 runs in a three-game sweep at Minnesota and 56 runs with a team OPS of .797 in their last 10 regular season games.

But the O’s have now been blanked four times since Sept. 8 and that is a 20-game span.

The long-assumed Orioles starter for today’s Game 2 of the Wild Card series became official last night. Manager Brandon Hyde, without a drum roll in the interview room, announced that Zach Eflin would pitch.

The reasoning behind the delay might remain a secret. The outcome of Game 1 was cited as a reason. Did that imply that a win over the Royals might push back Eflin rather than going for the kill with the team’s other ace?

Dean Kremer could have moved up. Rookie Cade Povich wasn’t dismissed as a possibility after his inclusion on the Wild Card roster.

Whatever was going on, Eflin must be the stopper today or the Orioles’ latest run toward a champion is halted.

At least there’s a run. They couldn’t score one yesterday for Corbin Burnes.

In the postseason in two straight years for the first time since 1996 and 1997, the Orioles host the Kansas City Royals today in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card round.

It’s a best two-of-three series with the Orioles hosting two games and all three, if necessary.

For what it’s worth, since the 12-team MLB playoff format started with the 2022 postseason, all eight Wild Card round series have ended with 2-0 sweeps. There has yet to be a third and deciding game.

In 2022, Cleveland defeated Tampa Bay, Seattle beat Toronto, Philadelphia beat St. Louis and San Diego topped the New York Mets, all by 2-0.

There were four 2-0 sweeps last year for Minnesota over Toronto, Texas over Tampa Bay, Arizona over Milwaukee and Miami over Philadelphia.

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.

In sizing up the last two regular seasons, where the Orioles posted 192 wins to rank second-most in the majors, O’s skipper Brandon Hyde noted the differences Monday afternoon at his press conference ahead of Game 1 of the AL Wild Card playoff series with Kansas City. 

There were big differences between how one team won 101 games and a division title and the other faced real challenges to get to 91 victories and a Wild Card berth.

“Last year there were so many things that went right throughout the regular season,” said Hyde. “The one thing that went wrong was (Félix) Bautista there at the end. But it felt like we won a lot of games that maybe we shouldn’t have at the time. We had a lot of comebacks.

“And this year was just a little more of a grind. Way more injuries. A big part of our rotation that we lost. There were a lot of things we dealt with that we didn’t have to deal with last year.

“I’m hoping it makes us tougher honestly. 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.

The Orioles returned to the visiting clubhouse Sunday at Target Field and still didn’t know their opponent for the Wild Card series that begins this afternoon at Camden Yards. The Royals were winning in the ninth inning. The Tigers were losing in the ninth inning. The drama was high for anyone paying attention to it.

The interest from players was low. Every television was tuned to the NFL. They punted on watching baseball.

“Whoever shows up,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said yesterday, “just go out there and continue to play our game.”

They got the Royals.

“We weren’t too worried about who it would be in the sense,” Henderson said. “Just got to know that we’ve got to go out there and continue to play. It’s postseason, so anything can happen, and they’re two outstanding teams. So we’re just going out there and trying to play the best ball that we can play.”

It hasn’t been so long that Orioles fans won’t remember. The 2014 Kansas City Royals swept the Orioles four games to none in the AL Championship Series.

It sounds crazy to say, but it was a close series.

The Orioles lost by two, two, one and one run. Each game went down to the last pitch. The Royals didn’t lose a game, but barely won each of them.

This is no rematch now, but it is the Orioles and Royals in the American League Wild Card series beginning Tuesday.

This time it’s a best-of-three series, with all games in Baltimore and the winner advancing to face the AL top seed New York Yankees.

MINNEAPOLIS – Orioles pitching coach Drew French says he “fancies himself” as an optimist. That’s just the way he’s built. He grabs the silver linings while hunting for gold. But limits are real, and the number of significant injuries and second-half losses could darken anyone’s sunny disposition.

The rotation was battered beyond recognition with Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells undergoing elbow surgeries and Grayson Rodriguez twice landing on the injured list and being shut down in September. Reliever Danny Coulombe missed three months following his own elbow procedure and Jacob Webb was sidelined with elbow inflammation.

A pitch smashed into second baseman Jordan Westburg’s right hand and fractured it. Infielder Ramón Urías was the club’s hottest hitter until rolling his ankle a month later. Infielder Jorge Mateo won’t play until 2025 due to reconstructive elbow surgery.

It’s fair to question how much one man or one team can endure.

Could French honestly have envisioned a home Wild Card if told back in February that the Orioles would go through this kind of trauma?

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Orioles road trip will be in SoCal tonight for the beginning of a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. They headed west Sunday with some momentum after outlasting the Royals on Saturday night and beating them 5-0 yesterday.

A most welcome strong start from lefty Cole Irvin led to the latest series win, it was just the third outing this year of 6 2/3 or more innings by an Oriole. The Orioles recorded their first shutout of the year after posting 12 last season.

Irvin provided the club its second scoreless start of the new year after Albert Suárez had one Wednesday versus Minnesota. This was just the second quality start by an Oriole in the last 11 games and their eighth on the year. Grayson Rodriguez has three, Corbin Burnes two and now with one each are Irvin, Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer.

Irvin’s outing was versus a K.C. team that had won nine in a row at home until Saturday’s loss. A Royals club that had scored 16 runs in the first two games of this series and began play Sunday averaging 5.14 runs per game – third-best in the AL.

It was an impressive outing, and an impressive series win against a K.C. club that is 2-4 versus the Orioles, but 11-5 against everybody else.

After a rough Friday for O’s pitching – especially the bullpen – the Orioles send ace right-hander Corbin Burnes (2-0, 2.28 ERA) to the mound tonight to try and restore order and even the series in Kansas City.

When right-hander Dean Kremer walked back-to-back batters in the last of the sixth with one out, he was allowed to get one more out and then pulled for lefty Keegan Akin with the O’s down 1-0 in the series opener.

A couple of groundballs found holes to plate three more runs and Kansas City was on its way to a five-run sixth and three-run seventh to post a 9-4 win over the Orioles.

The Royals (13-7) lost their first two home games of this season and have now won nine in a row at Kauffman Stadium. They have outscored their opponents 70-26 on the year at home and by 68-17 during the nine straight home wins.

Kansas City and Cleveland are tied for the MLB lead on the season with a plus-45 run differential.

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The grounds crew rolled up the tarp and prepped the Camden Yards field, with instructions that tonight’s game would begin at the appointed time. A light rain fell. The Orioles tried not to do the same.

They were down by three runs again tonight but didn’t have a dramatic rally in them. The performance fit the dreary setting.

Cole Irvin allowed four runs in five innings, the shortest start from the rotation in its first complete turn, and the offense managed only three hits in a 4-1 loss to the Royals before an announced and extremely dedicated crowd of 9,404.

The homestand concludes this afternoon if the weather allows it. Storms are forecast throughout the day. Two tarps might not be sufficient.

The three hits tonight definitely were not.

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The Orioles don’t know if they’re going to start tonight’s game on time. They don’t know if play will be interrupted.

All they can do is try.

Manager Brandon Hyde was asked whether he gets “anxious” during these moments. If he worries about his pitching and other potential complications.

This isn’t his first lousy forecast.

“Well, you can only control what you can control. I can’t control the weather,” he replied, trying to suppress a grin.

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Colton Cowser gets his first start tonight if the weather allows the Orioles to continue their series against the Royals at Camden Yards following last night’s walk-off homer from Jordan Westburg.

Cowser is playing left field. Austin Hays goes to the bench.

Westburg stays in the lineup, starting at third base. Tony Kemp gets his first start at second.

Jorge Mateo and Ramón Urías are on the bench with Hays.

Nice depth around here.

The deal was announced, and the news was probably just minutes old when some around Birdland wondered whether their team might soon have interest in a similar arrangement.

Monday afternoon, the Kansas City Royals, who ranked 24^th in 2023 in MLB team payroll, a few steps ahead of the Orioles, locked up one of their bright young stars to a huge contract.

When your team has its own bright young starts – players like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson and maybe soon will be adding Jackson Holliday to that list - it’s only natural to wonder and hope that they remain Orioles for a long, long time.

While the Royals extension deal with shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., 23, has opt-outs, they don’t start until after the 2030 season. He will have nine years in the majors at that point.

Signing up young talent well before free agency is a gamble when any team does it. But it is one pre-emptive strike that the so-called “small market” clubs have against losing those players later to the big spenders via free agency.

KANSAS CITY – After the top of the third today, the Orioles were enjoying an 8-1 lead against the Kansas City Royals and former teammate Jordan Lyles. Maybe this would be their rare laughter - a blowout with no late game or even mid-game drama.

Nope.

By the end of the Kansas City fourth, the Royals were hitting rookie right-hander Grayson Rodriguez hard and their 8-1 deficit was now just 8-6. There was nothing to laugh about now. Would the O’s even hold on and get another series win before heading to Atlanta?

Nope, also.

Or so we thought.

KANSAS CITY – The Orioles had won three in a row, five of six, 12 of 14 and 16 of their past 20 games until they were shutout for the first time this year, 6-0 last night at Kansas City. 

So Baltimore (20-10) play the series finale at Kauffman Stadium this afternoon and it is their fifth rubber game of the year. They lost their first two – at Boston and home vs. the New York Yankees. But have won the last two at the Chicago White Sox and home against Boston.

The Orioles are 11-6 on the road and 4-2 on this 10-game trip. They are 7-2 in their past nine road games and are 4-1 in road series.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (1-0, 4.07 ERA) gets the ball this afternoon and he takes a 14-innings scoreless streak into this start. The streak started in the second inning April 16 at Chicago versus the White Sox. It continued in five-inning outings twice against Detroit, once at home and once on the road. His last outing was Game 2 of the doubleheader Saturday at Detroit, when he pitched five scoreless with nine strikeouts and 91 pitches.

In those past two outings, he has allowed seven hits in 10 innings with four walks and 15 strikeouts, allowing a .194 batting average and .525 OPS. He is 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA in three starts vs. teams from the AL Central.

KANSAS CITY – If a formula for producing one of the best records in baseball so far has been to hold your own against the best teams and clean up on losing records clubs, the Orioles are doing a pretty solid job in following the script.

They may have gone off script for a night, being shutout 6-0 by Kansas City last night, as the Royals (8-23) ended a 10-game home losing streak that fell a game short of the franchise record.

But the Orioles have played four series to date against teams with current winning records and they are 6-6 in the 12 games against Boston, the New York Yankees and Texas, going 2-2 in series.

But they are 14-4 through Tuesday’s games against clubs with current losing records, going 5-0 in series. That is a .778 win percentage and that will help a team get into the playoffs. So will a 20-10 record and a .667 overall win percentage that, if maintained through the full year, amounts to 108 wins.

But as noted previously here, the May schedule is about to get more challenging for the team, with series looming against Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Toronto and New York.