After a seven-year hiatus which included three 100-loss seasons, the Baltimore Orioles are returning to the Major League Baseball playoffs. They begin postseason play Saturday afternoon at Camden Yards against the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the American League Divisional Series at 1 p.m. Game 2 will be Sunday at 4 p.m. before the series shifts to Arlington, Texas for Game 3 on Tuesday. The winner of the best of five series advances to the American League Championship Series to play the winner of the other ALDS between the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins. Since they finished with the best regular season record in the American League, the Orioles will have home-field advantage in the ALCS should they reach it.
The Orioles: Won the American League East Division title with a 101-61 record. It’s O’s first playoff appearance since 2016. The team won its first AL East Division title since 2014, which is also the last time it won a playoff series. They defeated the Detroit Tigers that year in the ALDS, before losing to the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. The Orioles last World Series championship was 1983, which is also the last time the team made it that far. Their 101-win regular season was their highest win total since 1980, the last time the team won 100 games.
The Rangers: Tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West with a 90-72 record, but did not win the division title due to a tiebreaker. The Rangers are also making their first postseason appearance 2016. They advanced to the ALDS by sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card Round, winning Game 1 4-0 and Game 2 7-1. It was their first playoff series victory since 2011, when they lost the World Series for the second year in a row, that year to the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2010, Texas lost the World Series to the San Francisco Giants, who were managed by the Rangers’ current skipper Bruce Bochy. The Rangers have never won a World Series title in franchise history, which dates back to 1961 when they began play as the expansion Washington Senators.
Playoff History Between The Two Teams: The Orioles and Rangers have met only once before in postseason play. In the 2012 American League Wild Card Game in Arlington, the Orioles defeated the Rangers 5-1.
Top Orioles players (regular season stats): 3B Gunnar Henderson .255 AVG, 28 HR, 82 RBI, 10 SB, .814 OPS, 6.3 WAR - SP Kyle Bradish 12-7, 2.83 ERA, 168.2 IP, 168 K, 44 BB, 1.04 WHIP, 4.9 WAR - C Adley Rutschman .277 AVG, 20 HR, 80 RBI, .809 OPS, 4.3 WAR - OF Anthony Santander .257 AVG, 28 HR, 95 RBI, .797 OPS, 3.0 WAR - OF Cedric Mullins .233 AVG, 15 HR, 74 RBI, 19 SB, .721 OPS, 2.8 WAR - OF Austin Hays .275 AVG, 16 HR, 67 RBI, .769 OPS, 2.6 WAR
Top Rangers players (regular season stats): 2B Marcus Semien .276 AVG, 29 HR, 100 RBI, 14 SB, .826 OPS, 7.4 WAR - SS Corey Seager .327 AVG, 33 HR, 96 RBI, 1.013 OPS, 6.9 WAR - OF Adolis Garcia .245 AVG, 39 HR, 107 RBI, .836 OPS, 4.2 WAR - SP Nathan Eovaldi 12-5, 3.63 ERA, 144.0 IP, 132 K, 47 BB, 1.14 WHIP, 3.1 WAR - SP Dane Dunning 12-7, 3.70 ERA, 172.2 IP, 140 K, 55 BB, 1.26 WHIP, 3.0 WAR - C Jonah Heim .258 AVG, 18 HR, 95 RBI, .755 OPS, 2.9 WAR
Schedule:
Game 1 - Sat. Oct. 7 Camden Yards 1:00
Game 2 - Sun. Oct. 8 Camden Yards 4:00
Game 3 - Tue. Oct. 10 Globe Life Park 8:00
Game 4* - Wed. Oct. 11 Globe Life Park TBD
Game 5* - Fri. Oct 13 Camden Yards TBD
*= if necessary
Game 1 note: The Orioles game starts at 1 p.m. Saturday. That evening at 7, a concert by Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks begins at M&T Bank Stadium. The two facilities share parking lots. For those who purchased parking ahead of time for the concert, the stadium lots will open at 5:30 p.m. after they’ve been cleared from the baseball game. Should the Orioles game be delayed or go extra innings, forcing those lots to open later, the Baltimore Ravens will alert concert goers via email and post updates on X (formerly Twitter). Those going to either the game or concert, or both, are urged to consider taking mass transit or parking in garages downtown to avoid any confusion around the stadiums.
