Happy Hollidays everyone! The day is finally here: the start of Major League Baseball’s regular season. 

The O’s open up their new campaign north of the border in Toronto. With consecutive playoff appearances but no October victories to show for it, Baltimore has something to prove. 

An energy and hunger was palpable at spring training. The locker room is eager to compete for an AL East crown and find more postseason success. 

Who will lead the team in home runs? Who will be the breakout star? Who will have the best facial hair? A new season means new predictions; dart throws that certainly won’t be held against us at a later time. 

Yesterday on “The Bird’s Nest,” Annie Klaff and I handed out some superlatives. I’ve provided my predictions below, but for Annie’s picks and more in-depth analysis, be sure to check out the full episode here: https://masn.me/qt7qjk0i

The top two picks were obvious. 

Gunnar Henderson was always going to be the first selection in “The Bird’s Nest’s” 2025 Orioles fantasy draft. 

As Annie Klaff and I attempted to construct two teams of the upcoming season’s top contributors, Henderson was a slam dunk. Fresh off a fourth-place AL MVP finish and a 9.1 bWAR season, the superstar carried my 2024 iteration of this exercise. 

Adley Rutschman was always going to be the second pick. Despite down numbers in the latter half of last season, Rutschman has as much upside as anyone. A perennial All-Star, the catcher has been mashing his way through spring training, primed for another stellar campaign. 

With the third pick in our snake-order draft, Annie, who lost our coin toss and thus received the second and third picks, was left with a decision to make. 

The baseball gods are hardly ever kind.

Over the last few weeks, the Orioles have been hit with significant injuries. We’re not talking 2024 depths of despair level, but important enough to conjure similar emotions. Agony, dread, synonyms.

This week on “The Bird’s Nest,” Annie Klaff and I broke down the injuries and what they mean for Baltimore moving forward. While the topics will be introduced in this article, you can hear more in-depth analysis by watching the full episode here.

Andrew Kittredge 

Let’s start with the devil we know rather than the ones we don’t. Kittredge underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure last week to repair cartilage in his left knee. The reliever told reporters yesterday that his original timeline was sometime between June and the All-Star break, but that early indications point to the earlier side of that. That’s good! What’s not good is losing one of the best setup men in baseball for multiple months. Kittredge is coming off a season in which he posted a 2.80 ERA, an off-the-charts chase rate and was money in high-leverage situations.

A new season means a new MLB Pipeline prospect ranking. 

This week on “The Bird’s Nest,” Annie Klaff and I broke down some of the highlights from an updated top 30. You can listen to the full episode here: https://masn.me/6r1g411x

The Top Dogs 

Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo are two of the top prospects in all of baseball. Two of the best 15 in the game per Pipeline’s top 100, to be exact, and No. 1 and No. 2 in the O’s top 30. Basallo, now the top prospect in Baltimore’s system, has turned heads down in Sarasota with his eye popping exit velocities and defensive improvements. However, the catcher still needs seasoning in Triple-A Norfolk after posting a .638 OPS in 21 games with the Tides. That’s to be expected during your age 19 season. As for Mayo, there’s not much left to prove offensively down in the minors. Continuing to progress defensively at both third base and first base is the next step in his development. 

The Speedsters in Center 

SARASOTA, Fla. – Spring training can be a whirlwind. 

New faces, stars of the game and top prospects are scattered across the fields at the Orioles' spring training complex at Ed Smith Stadium. 

A team fighting to recapture an American League East crown has plenty of storylines. On “The Bird’s Nest,” Annie Klaff and I broke down some of the standouts from the early part of camp. For a more in-depth analysis, you can watch the full episode here.

Tomoyuki Sugano’s rockstar status

Sugano’s name may not have been on the radars of many around Baltimore, but it has rung like “Elvis” thus far at spring training. The three-time Central League MVP has drawn crowds of media at every step. And his first bullpen session in an Orioles uniform was sharp. Gary Sánchez joked that he could close his eyes and Sugano’s pitch would be in the perfect place in his glove. While it remains to be seen how the right-hander's stuff will fare against major league hitters, pinpoint accuracy and great movement on pitches like his splitter are never bad places to start. 

Pitchers and catchers have officially reported to spring training! And in just a short while, the full Orioles squad will report to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. 

Annie Klaff and I, the hosts of the MASN Orioles podcast “The Bird’s Nest,” will be joining them to put a camera in their faces, a practice that players and coaches have surely been lamentably deprived of all offseason. We’ll be providing lots of content on our MASN Orioles social pages, and I hope you’ll follow along. 

On this week’s episode of “The Bird’s Nest,” Annie and I discussed the top storylines that we’ll be keeping an eye on. For a more in-depth analysis of these topics, you can check out the full podcast here.

How will the new free agent signings fit?

Of course, the free agents that the Orioles acquired this offseason will have huge impacts on the field. At spring training, we will get glimpses of what that may be, but we’ll need to wait for 1 of 162 to start to get a better idea. Instead, this first stretch of play offers us an opportunity to have a glimpse inside the clubhouse. Will veterans like Charlie Morton and Tyler O’Neill be immediate vocal leaders? Or will they lead by their example rather than words? How will they mesh with the well-established young core that has had spots reserved in the locker room for many seasons? These are all questions that we will begin to get answers to.