The Orioles have not had an American League Rookie of the Year since pitcher Gregg Olson won it in 1989. Last year Adley Rutschman finished a distant second to Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez, who got 29 of the 30 first-place votes by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

But this year Gunnar Henderson is a strong candidate to end a long stretch where the Orioles have not had a ROY.

Their first was Ron Hansen in 1960, followed by Curt Blefary in 1965, Al Bumbry in 1973, Eddie Murray in 1977, Cal Ripken Jr. in 1982 and Olson. If he gets it, Henderson would be the seventh O’s ROY.

Henderson leads AL rookies in baseball-refernce.com WAR at 4.0 and leads among FanGraphs WAR for AL rookies at 3.1.

I asked him in the Baltimore clubhouse before the start of the series with Toronto if Rookie of the Year talk is flattering for him, distracting, or none of the above?

The Orioles will certainly take some momentum into their AL East series at home tomorrow night against third-place Toronto. 

They blasted Oakland 12-1 on Sunday to produce their seventh three-game sweep of the year. For those that love run differential, the Orioles outscored the Athletics 28-7 over the weekend.

Gunnar Henderson had four extra-base hits to tie a team record and he became the 11th Oriole in club history to have four in one game. His day included a double in the third, triple in the fourth, solo homer in the seventh and another double in the eighth. He drove in a run with that two-bagger when a single would have given him the cycle.

The other Orioles to have four extra base hits in a game were Charle Lau in 1962, Don Baylor in 1973, Dave Duncan in 1975, Cal Ripken Jr. in 1983, Brady Anderson in 1994 and 1998, Will Clark in 1999, Albert Belle twice in 1999, Chris Richard in 2000, Miguel Tejada in 2004 and 2005 and the last to do it was Melvin Mora on Aug. 17, 2008 against the Tigers with two doubles and two homers.

The Orioles went 6-1 in the season series and scored 57 runs versus Oakland pitching.

TORONTO - I don't know what will happen in the final two games of this series. But in the first two we have seen more of what we've seen for most of this 2023 season - the Orioles are pretty great in division games and Toronto is pretty lousy.

With Tuesday's 13-3 blowout - a rare laugher for the Orioles - they are now 23-13 (.639) in AL East games and Toronto is 7-22 (.241).

A team playing at that O's win percentage over a full year would win 103 games and at Toronto's percentage just 39.

But there is more.

The Orioles lost their first two AL East series of the year and Toronto won its first two. So, the Orioles are 21-9 in the division in the last 10 series counting this one and they have not lost a single series in that run.

After scoring 11 runs in back-to-back games, the Orioles now have a five-game winning streak and have outscored their opponents 37-15 in that span. They are now 42-24 for the year and four games behind Tampa Bay for first place in the American League East.

The Rays (48-22, .686) have the best record in the majors and the Orioles are now No. 2. Their .636 win percentage would produce 103 wins over a full year of 162 games.

Their longest win streak of the season is seven in a row from April 16-24. The Orioles are 21-12 at both home and on the road. They are now 16-6 in series-opening games.

The Orioles have gone 4-0 against Toronto this season by a combined 31-15 score, and are 13-10 against them since the start of 2022.

Gunnar Henderson went 3-for-5 in Tuesday’s 11-6 win over Toronto and is now batting .246/.355/.475/.830 with an OPS+ of 130, which is 30 percent above league average.

TORONTO – After 26 innings of mostly frustration on offense this weekend in Toronto, the 27^th inning proved quite fruitful for the Orioles today.

Against right-handed All-Star closer Jordan Romano, one of the saves leaders in MLB with 34, the Orioles scored three runs in the ninth on Adley Rutschman’s huge two-run single and an RBI single by Jesús Aguilar.

The Orioles, who never led today until the ninth, beat Toronto 5-4 to salvage the final game of this series.

Winning for just the fifth time in 13 games, the Orioles come home at 76-69, and this win sparked a little life into their flickering playoff hopes.

Romano had recorded 14 consecutive scoreless appearances over 15 innings and had allowed just one earned run this season at home in 28 games. His home ERA of 0.31 was the best among all qualified MLB relievers. 

TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays recently took three of four games in a series in Baltimore. Today, they can sweep a three-game series with the Orioles at Rogers Centre. They have posted two straight 6-3 wins over the Orioles this weekend.

The O’s (75-69) began the weekend five games behind Toronto and are now seven games back. The Orioles have lost eight of of their past 12 games. They are 7-8 for the season series against Toronto and 4-5 at Rogers Centre. The teams will play three games at the end of the season in Baltimore, but the Orioles will have to gain significant ground on Toronto to make those matter.

With Saturday’s victory, the Blue Jays are now 83-63 this season, and are 20 games over .500 for the first time since finishing last year at 91-71. They are now 43-31 at Rogers Centre and moved to 35-27 in American League East division games,  having won 11 of the last 14 and 15 of the last 19. They win this series and are now 25-15-6 in series play this year and have gone 14-7-2 in home series.

Toronto left fielder Raimel Tapia cleared the bases with a double in the bottom of the fifth, putting the Blue Jays in front, 6- 2. He drove in at least three runs in a game for the sixth time this season.

Toronto’s George Springer led off the game with a single before doubling home a pair in the second off losing pitcher Kyle Bradish, who is now 3-7 with an ERA of 5.05. Springer went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, his 30th multi-hit game of the year.

TORONTO – The Orioles have just 18 games remaining, and at this point, injured first baseman Ryan Mountcastle is not a candidate for an injured list stay. But he is also not in today’s starting lineup for the series finale in Toronto.

“He’s pretty sore today,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He’s trending in the right way. Spent a lot of time in the training room this morning. It’s just the tricep, it’s right above the elbow, is pretty sore.”

Mountcastle was hit by a pitch, a 94 mph fastball, from right-hander José Berríos in the second inning on Saturday afternoon. He stayed in the game and ran the bases, but when the O’s took the field for the last of the second, he had been replaced at first base by Jesús Aguilar. And Aguilar is playing first base today.

The Orioles have had an MLB-low 12 players on the injured list this season and Hyde gave some props today to his medical, training and strength coach staffs for that.

“We’ve done a really good job with workload. And the credit goes to (head athletic trainer) Brian Ebel and his staff and the two strength guys. And how we’re monitoring playing time and the communication that goes on between all of us and workload and how these guys are playing. Don’t jinx it, we’ve got two and a half more weeks to go. But we’ve been able to keep guys healthy into the middle of September, now getting into the deeper part of September. Only had a handful of major injuries. Look at others teams’ injury lists and they are a lot longer than ours. Lot of credit goes to the guys in the training room," Hyde said. 

The Orioles are reduced today to trying to avoid a sweep in their three-game series in Toronto. Not how they wanted it to play out.

The Blue Jays have won the first two games by the same 6-3 score, and they lead the Orioles by seven games in the wild card race. The Orioles trail Seattle by five for the final spot.

Eight losses in the last 12 games have put the Orioles in a precarious position.

Ryan Mountcastle is out of the lineup after being hit yesterday above the left elbow by a José Berríos pitch. Jesús Aguilar is playing first base.

Gunnar Henderson is the third baseman and cleanup hitter today. Henderson is 20-for-58 (.345) with a .973 OPS, six doubles, one triple, two home runs and 12 RBIs in 16 games.

TORONTO – The Orioles have to be pleased that rookies have driven in all six of their runs in the series at Rogers Centre. But now they could use some help.

The Birds have lost twice in Toronto, both by 6-3 margins, and need to avoid a sweep today. They have fallen seven games behind the Blue Jays, who are 83-63 and have won 15 of 19 and 22 of 31 games. Toronto is 15-4 in its last 19 American League East games.

And Toronto has now won six of the last seven games between these teams, winning those six by five runs, four, four, three, three and three runs.

In the series the Orioles have three RBIs from Gunnar Henderson, two from Adley Rutschman and one by Terrin Vavra.

Henderson is a hitter on a tear, and is now batting .345/.387/.586/.973 after his first 16 MLB games with nine extra-base hits and 12 RBIs. After his first 16 games in the bigs, Rutschman had an OPS of .451 with just three extra-base hits and no RBIs.

The road trip that began in Boston for a one-night appearance and then moved to Florida headed north on Sunday, and the Orioles have arrived in Toronto for their latest series at Rogers Centre. The O’s and Blue Jays split four games in mid-June there when the Orioles were nine games under .500 and six games out of the third American League wild card spot.

Tonight they begin play (59-55) four games over .500 and 1.5 games behind Tampa Bay for the third AL wild card spot. They led that spot by a ½ game after Friday’s 10-3 win against the Rays, but scored just three runs in losing the last two days there.

The Orioles are 2.5 games back of Toronto for the first wild card spot and two games back of Seattle for the second spot. In sitting behind Tampa Bay for a playoff spot, the Orioles are also just ½ game ahead of Minnesota and the Chicago White Sox. So as of now, just three games separate six teams from Toronto through the Twins and White Sox for three playoff spots.

For the season the Orioles average 4.24 runs per game, and the AL average is 4.21. But over the last 12 games, the Orioles have gone 8-4 and have scored six runs or more in seven of those games, going 7-0. However, in the four losses they scored one, three, two and one run, respectively.

For the season they rank 10^th in AL team batting at .238 and 11^th in OBP at .306. They are seventh with a .392 slugging mark, and their .698 OPS ranks ninth and is behind the league average of .700.

Tonight’s game between the Orioles and Blue Jays has been postponed due to rain and will be made up as part of a traditional doubleheader on Monday, Sept. 5.

The first game starts at 1:05 p.m. The second game is slated to begin about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the opener.

Fans holding tickets for the originally scheduled 1:05 p.m. game on Sept. 5 should use them for both games of the doubleheader.

Tickets for tonight’s game aren’t valid for the doubleheader. Fans may exchange the value of their tickets toward any remaining regular season home game this season, including the doubleheader, based on availability.

The first 15,000 fans ages 15 and over attending the doubleheader will receive a Ryan Mountcastle t-shirt.

Now that they have secured a series victory over Toronto – their first since July 5-7, 2019 – the Orioles go for a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays tonight at Oriole Park. They beat Toronto 7-4 on Monday and 6-5 last night on Rougned Odor’s two-run homer in the last of the eighth.

It is another game impacted by rain, however, and tonight's game will start in a rain delay at Oriole Park.

Tuesday's victory gave the Orioles their 25^th comeback win of the year. They had trailed 5-3 after the sixth inning but got within a run on Ryan Mountcastle’s RBI double in the seventh, and moved ahead on Odor’s 11^th homer, a 415-foot shot to right field off a Yimi Garcia changeup. The Orioles improved to 7-44 when trailing after seven innings, and Toronto is now 51-3 when leading after seven.

The Orioles had lost 10 and tied three series against Toronto since that last series win. Last year, Baltimore went 5-14 versus the Blue Jays and now they are 4-2.

The Orioles continue to play improved baseball against American League East teams. They are 6-2 in their last eight division games and are 14-10 in the last 24. For the year they are 22-24 in division games, going 15-10 at home.

The Orioles are a half-game behind in the wild card race as they go for the sweep tonight against the Blue Jays and board their flight to Boston. They’re only two back for the top spot.

They can move seven games above .500 for the first time since May 22, 2017.

Last night marked the seventh time this season that the Orioles won after trailing through seven innings. They have 25 comeback victories.

The 16 wins in the last 20 home games represents their best stretch at Camden Yards since 2016.

The Orioles are running out the same lineup tonight.

Now two games out of both the second and third American League wild card spots, and four games behind the No. 1 spot held by Toronto, the Orioles begin a three-game series with the Blue Jays tonight at Camden Yards.

It’s a big series between two teams that did not play once during the season’s first 61 games, and then split four games in mid-June at Toronto’s Rogers Centre. The Orioles lost 11-1 in the series opener, won the second game 6-5, lost 7-6 in 10 and then blasted former Oriole Kevin Gausman 10-2 in the fourth game of that series. Gausman allowed seven runs (five earned) over 2 1/3 innings.

The Orioles (56-52) and Blue Jays (60-48) will play six times in the next 10 games and 15 in the last 54 of the O’s regular season. They will meet nine times in the last 28 games starting Sept. 5.

The Orioles have not had a lot of success in recent seasons against Toronto. They are 17-35 since the 2019 season and Toronto is unbeaten in its last 13 series versus Baltimore. When the O’s went 2-2 in Canada last month it was their first series win or split of three games or more against that team since Aug. 1-4, 2019.

The Orioles are 6-6-1 in series this season against the AL East after going 3-19-2 last year. They are 20-24 versus AL East teams and 13-10 at home against the division. The Orioles are 4-2 their last six division games this season and 8-6 in the last 14.

TORONTO – Don’t look now but the Orioles may slowly be making some gains on their American League East opponents. Not in the standings yet – as they're still in last place – but they're making gains in head-to-head competition.

Through the season’s first 65 games, the Orioles have already won or tied series with every AL East club – the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Blue Jays.

The Orioles have won one series against New York, two against Boston and one against Tampa Bay. And Thursday’s 10-2 win at Rogers Centre, once a house of horrors for the Orioles, gave them a four-game split with Toronto.

In fact the Orioles are 9-7 in their last 16 AL East games. They are 13-18 (.419) overall for the year versus the AL East after going 20-56 (.263) last year. The Orioles are 4-9 versus the Yankees, but are 9-9 combined against the rest of division. They are 5-3 against Boston, 2-2 versus Toronto and 2-4 against Tampa Bay. They are 1-3 in series versus New York, but 3-1-1 in their other five AL East series.

Before the game Thursday, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde talked about the club’s more competitive play within the division.

TORONTO – Ramón Urías went on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a strained left oblique and isn’t close to being ready to jump back in the lineup.

Urías is making progress, but at a pace that disappoints him.

“I feel a little bit better,” he said yesterday. “Obviously, I feel like it’s going slow. The good thing is, every day it’s getting a little better.”

There isn’t much for Urías to do except receive daily treatments.

“I think I would have a better idea when I start swinging and see how it feels with the swing,” he said.

TORONTO – During the long grind of a 162-game season where even after they feel they're making some progress and starting to play overall better baseball, building day-to-day momentum has been a real challenge for these 2022 Orioles.

They have one three-game win streak this year, and given a chance for a second one last night, they got hammered 11-1 by Toronto. It matches their biggest losing margin all year – 10 runs for the third time.

The up-and-down Orioles were held to 10 runs in three games versus Cleveland and then scored nine against the Cubs. They produced just six runs in two losses at Kansas City before scoring 16 and winning twice. Then the Toronto series started with a dud. 

And rookie right-hander Kyle Bradish, a young pitcher trying to find his way and make improvements in the rugged American League East, had another subpar night, allowing five runs in 4 1/3 innings – his third straight outing where he failed to pitch five innings. He threw 90 pitches but his ERA increased from 6.45 to 6.86.

Bradish felt he was making some progress the second time through the Toronto lineup. Maybe it’s something to build on, but he was still missing a key pitch again.