30 September 2023
Over the past quarter-century, only once had the Orioles won their division. Perpetually battling beneath the behemoth New York Yankees and company, Baltimore took home a lone American League East title — in 2014 — in that time frame.
But after defeating the Boston Red Sox, 2-0, on Thursday night, the Orioles locked in not only the divisional crown, but the best record in the American League, the club’s first time with that distinction since 1997. It’s Baltimore’s best baseball season in decades and the party in the Camden Yards bleachers carried into the clubhouse and the city.
But now that the beer-covered plastic from the locker room celebration has been tossed aside and champagne has been shampooed out of hair, the practicality of the accomplishment comes into focus. Yes, the Orioles have added another divisional title.
More pressingly, though, they will soon get to rest.
As one of the AL’s top two division winners, the Orioles will not have to play in the opening round of the MLB playoffs. Instead, as four teams play next week, the Orioles will be one of two AL clubs watching, receiving a much-needed break.
By season’s end, the Orioles will have played 23 out of 24 days, jostling each game with the Tampa Bay Rays for division supremacy. At key moments during the unrelenting month of September, a depleted bullpen displayed its fatigue. But a sight for sore eyes now approaches, an oasis in the long slog that is the seven-month baseball season: five days off.
That amount matches the Orioles’ total number of rest days over the regular season’s final eight weeks.
After Baltimore’s regular-season finale against Boston on Sunday, they won’t play again until hosting Game 1 of the American League Division Series next Saturday.
Some argue that a break can take a team out of its season-long rhythm, but for Baltimore, the time off is likely to be welcomed.
“Giving pitchers days off, I think that’s extremely important,” manager Brandon Hyde said last week before the Orioles clinched the division. “Especially where we are with our pitching staff and the usage of our bullpen and those types of things, that would be really, really helpful.”
The Orioles played 17 straight days from Sept. 8 to Sunday, and even the one-day reprieve that followed offered relief. “It was nice to be home with my family yesterday and hit the reset button,” outfielder Austin Hays said the next day.
A five-day break could offer even more. Playoff veteran Aaron Hicks, himself no stranger to both playing in the wild-card round or resting until the division series, described the break as “huge.”
“Having the week off is nice because you get to reset your rotation and get it going for the series and that’s extremely helpful, too,” he said.
The long baseball season can particularly catch up with pitchers, whose arms have whipped forward thousands of times since spring training began. Kyle Gibson leads the Orioles in innings pitched and he could throw more combined regular season and playoff innings this season than ever in his 11-year career.
Pitchers can cut back a bit on their throwing or their weightlifting as the season nears its end, said the 35-year-old Gibson.
“If you feel a little bit more sluggish, then try to make sure that you cut down work in the weight room or cut down bullpen work. That’s normally what I do. I try to just taper everything back and make sure every five days I’m feeling the best I can,” he said.
“I look at energy as a tank of gas. If you’re not draining it, then your recovery should be a little bit better. So, try to have less days in between starts where you’re really kind of gassing it.”
Baltimore’s starters have had strong outings recently: rookie Grayson Rodriguez has been sharp for the past two months, newfound ace Kyle Bradish pitched eight shutout innings Tuesday, John Means flirted with a no-hitter last Saturday and allowed just two runs in 6 1/3 innings Friday, and Dean Kremer struck out eight in 5 1/3 scoreless innings in their AL East-clinching 2-0 win on Thursday.
But still, for Rodriguez and Bradish, as well as Kremer, this year marks a career high in innings pitched. And Means has only pitched four games since his return from Tommy John elbow reconstruction.
“It’s huge,” Rodriguez said Wednesday of the potential of a playoff bye. “I know all these guys want extra rest. It never hurts. So just kind of getting an extra breath of fresh air, we’re gonna get that October boost, so really excited to see what these guys can do.”
Hyde said before Friday’s game his priority is sorting out players’ workloads in preparation for the postseason. He acknowledged some players need time off to recover but acknowledged there are other factors at play.
“It’s very unique,” Hyde said Friday. “I haven’t ever had that many days off in a row, especially before a postseason game. But we have some guys that could really use some time off. Now, that many days? No. But how do we simulate live pitching, having our hitters still continue to see velocity? Probably want some of our pitchers to throw to some hitters at some point. So all those things come into play.”
A reprieve will certainly be beneficial for the bullpen, which has been without All-Star closer Félix Bautista for more than a month, during which it has been particularly taxed.
Before the Orioles had a day off Monday, their previous one came Sept. 7 — a day they arrived in Boston at 9 a.m. after flying out of Los Angeles following a series against the Angels. That hardly felt like a day off, players said. So, Monday was a nice respite. Next week might be even better.
“I think it would be great for everybody,” reliever Danny Coulombe recently said of the break, “just physically, mentally, to kind of disconnect before, hopefully, the long run in the playoffs.”
Red Sox at Orioles
Saturday, 7:15 p.m.
TV: Chs. 45, 5
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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