Eflin ready for Game 2 challenge with Orioles on brink of Wild Card elimination

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.

“Our backs are against the wall,” Ryan O’Hearn told the media after he drew a pinch-hit, leadoff walk in the ninth inning and became the seventh runner stranded. “It’s win or go home. It’s all hands on deck.”

Eflin absolutely should be the guy with a baseball in it.

The debate will rage on whether executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias did enough with the roster to give the Orioles a fighting chance. He didn’t make any dynamic, prospect-sacrificing moves on deadline day, but he traded for Burnes over the winter and Eflin on July 26. He gave the club a No. 1 and 2 starter, the latter under team control in 2025.

If Grayson Rodriguez hadn’t suffered the lat/teres injury again …

Anyway, Eflin has made nine starts with the Orioles and seven qualify as quality. Give him some offensive support and maybe you get a Game 3. He isn’t raw under the heat of the postseason spotlight.

“You look at it as an opportunity, you know?” he said. “We have an opportunity to right the ship and we’re going to show up prepared and be ready to go.”

Eflin said he was aware of a “couple different circumstances” regarding the Game 2 starter and he “just found out here recently.” Did that mean a few days ago, earlier yesterday or right before he was led into the interview room?

“I was aware of certain scenarios heading into the game,” he replied. “So I was aware of kind of when I might be going.”

Still kind of vague, but OK.

“Looking forward to it,” he said. “It's an amazing opportunity, and you know, looking forward to having a lot of fun with the guys tomorrow.”

I’ve lost count of the usage of the word “fun” over the past few days. This is the same team with the water works and disco lights and loud music after wins. The funny video clips posted on social media. They know that tightening up now will only make matters worse.

Eflin downplayed the difficulty in not knowing his status a few days ago. Man, he’s a pro.

“I'm honestly not that kind of person or pitcher,” he said. “My game is ready for it. That's how I've always been.”

Eflin watched Burnes hold the Royals to one run in eight-plus innings, the right-hander’s longest outing of the season, and could treat it as a roadmap for his start.

“No doubt,” he said. “You know, looking at his stuff, he's obviously in his own category. But being able to attack the guys, get ahead of them, get contact when needed to, he kind of just took the game plan and put it out there.”

Maybe it’s because I’ve been around Eflin a bit since the trade, but this exchange last night really amused me. It wasn't rude. He's a really good guy. It just reads funny.

Media member: “Your playoff history, I don’t know that much about it. Can you tell me a little bit about it?”

Eflin: “I have relieved and I've started. So there you go.”

Yeah, we have the internet now and it isn’t a fad. It’s probably here to stay.

The season probably is over if Eflin gets smacked around. What should comfort the organization and its fans is that it’s gonna take a lot more than that to rattle him. Like maybe the traffic heading out of the ballpark, or the Jimmy’s Famous Seafood concession stand running out of crab cake egg rolls.

(Had my first order yesterday and my toes haven’t uncurled.)

“I think at the end of the day you treat it like any other game,” he said. “Obviously, knowing the circumstances behind the game, but you've got to be free and easy and play this game like that. So I keep telling you guys, we're going to have some fun tomorrow and play some good baseball.”

Fun, fun, fun ‘till a team takes the playoffs away.

Maybe it won’t happen. It’s only one loss. It just stands out more in a best-of-three.

“It's a really special place here in October,” Eflin said, “so we’re looking forward to continuing that.”