Game 1 of the 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees was seen by 15.2 million viewers on Fox television.

That number was up 62 percent from last year’s Game 1 when 9.35 million watched the Diamondbacks and Rangers. It was the most-watched World Series opening game since Astros-Dodgers was seen by 15.33 million in 2017.

A Baseball America article called the audience “massive” and noted that often the World Series total average viewership for the series exceeds the Game 1 number.

Said BA: “While 2016’s 22.8 million average viewership is unlikely to be exceeded, an average of 15 million viewers would blow away any recent World Series. Last year’s Rangers-Diamondbacks World Series averaged an all-time low 9.1 million viewers per game, and there hasn’t been a World Series to top 12 million in average viewership since 2019. A 15-million average viewership would rank as the third highest since 2010, which is impressive given TV viewership for anything but football has dwindled dramatically in the past decade-plus thanks to the demise of cable TV and the rise of streaming services and social media.”

According to Sports Media Watch, Game 2 on Saturday averaged 13.44 million viewers on FOX (13.8 million across all Fox Sports platforms). That was the largest audience for Game 2 since Dodgers-Red Sox in 2018 (13.51M) and a 65% increase from last year’s record-low 8.15 million for Diamondbacks-Rangers.

It has been true for quite a while now. While catcher Samuel Basallo is the shining star of the Orioles surging and improved international program, he is not the only possible future big league talent on the horizon.

On the MLBPipeline.com Orioles top 30 prospects list right now there is a whopping 13 international players, a high mark since Mike Elias and his staff took over in November of 2018.

Not long after, in January of 2019, Koby Perez was hired as senior director, international scouting. Now with the club for six years, in October of 2023, Perez was promoted to his latest role as vice president, international scouting and operations.

He has presided over four international signing classes. In January of 2021, the O’s signed their first two international amateurs to bonuses of at least a million dollars in Basallo and Maikol Hernandez. They now have five players that have signed for a million or more.

The latest examples that the O’s international program is becoming a bigger force came this month via Baseball America.

The Orioles aren’t ignoring their minor league rosters and the building of depth. Their offseason business is spread widely.

Catcher David Bañuelos is staying in the organization on another minor league deal, according to an industry source. The agreement, completed last night, includes an invitation to spring training.

He could have become a minor league free agent five days after the World Series, but the Orioles started negotiations early.

The sides struck their original deal on Dec. 30, 2023. It didn’t take as long in 2024.

Bañuelos hopped on and off the 40-man roster a few times this season. His first and only major league at-bat came on April 16 against the Twins. He flied to right field in the ninth inning.

For Orioles young catching prospect Samuel Basallo, a 2024 season that began with him rehabbing a stress fracture in his right elbow and spending time as a DH ended with him healthy, hitting well and advancing to Triple-A for the first time in his career.

Basallo spent most of this year with Double-A Bowie over 106 games but in late August moved to Triple-A Norfolk and played his final 21 games for the Tides.

He was named by Minor League Baseball as the Top MLB Prospect in the Double-A Eastern League. He played in the Futures Game in July and is now ranked as the O’s No. 2 prospect in the team top 30 and No. 13 in the national top 100 at season’s end by both Baseball America and MLBPipepline.com.

Not bad for the youngster from the Dominican Republic, who was signed to a $1.3 million bonus in January of 2021. He flew up prospect rankings in 2023 and by the end of the year was a top 50 prospect. So he was a marked man all this year and still put up a .790 OPS between Bowie and Norfolk. He is the first Baysox to be named Top Prospect in the league by Minor League Baseball since Adley Rutschman in 2021.

This was his age 19 season by the way, and he did not turn 20 until Aug. 13.

Considering the 2024 season was his fourth in pro ball, but just his second full season of minor league ball, O’s 20-year-old catching prospect Samuel Basallo has accomplished a lot.

He has flown up prospect rankings to now be a top 10-15 player. He repped the Orioles in the Futures Game this year. He was named the High-A Carolina League MVP last season and named that league’s top MLB prospect.

Just yesterday he was named the top MLB prospect in the Double-A Eastern League for his play with Bowie this season. In late August he moved to Triple-A Norfolk for the first time.

“I just feel extremely proud,” Basallo said during a phone interview yesterday via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Looking back, I didn’t start the year the way that I want or we wanted, but to be able to be named the top prospect in that league, it means a lot to me for sure. I’m really proud of that.”

But something Basallo and his family are also quite proud of, has nothing to do with prospect rankings or anything on a stat sheet.

Since he burst onto top 100 prospects lists during the 2023 season, O’s catching prospect Samuel Basallo became a marked man. Everyone knew his name and opponent pitchers worked hard to make their mark by getting him out.

He likes that actually.

“I embrace it. It’s a challenge and I like to compete. Guys fighting to get me out, I take that as a challenge. I look forward to the competition,” said Basallo, who we found out yesterday, is being promoted by the Orioles from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. This was from an interview in July, right before he played in the All-Star Futures Game representing the Orioles and Bowie Baysox.

Now, 12 days after he turned 20, Basallo will become the youngest player in Triple-A when he takes the field tomorrow with Norfolk at Jacksonville. He has 24 games left to show his stuff at the minor’s highest level.

Basallo’s first two pro seasons, in 2021 and 2022, were in short-season ball. He began last year at Low-A Delmarva and after 83 games there he moved to High-A Aberdeen. After just 27 games with the IronBirds, he ended last season with four games at Bowie.

The Orioles last three-game win streak came over 30 games ago. They won three straight July 14-20, wrapping around the All-Star break with a win to end the first half and two to start the second half.

They have not won three straight over a three-day period since taking four in a row from June 26-29. With two wins in the first three games versus Houston, the Orioles tonight look for their first home series win over the Astros since May 25-27, 2015. And a win would give them another three-game win streak.

The Orioles ended Houston's nine-game road winning streak 7-5 Friday night and won again yesterday 3-2.

Earlier today the Yankees beat Colorado 10-3 to improve to 77-54. They lead the Orioles (76-55) by one game pending the O's result tonight. Aaron Judge hit two homers today for New York, hitting No. 50 and No. 51.

Jackson Holliday's three-run, pinch-hit double in the sixth inning Saturday afternoon provided all the O's runs in their 3-2 win. It was Holliday's first pinch-hit appearance in MLB.

Samuel Basallo on up to Triple-A. The Orioles' top 100 catching prospect is being promoted to Norfolk after homering for Bowie today in his final game with the Double-A Baysox.

Basallo is ranked as the No. 11 prospect in baseball per MLBPipeline.com and No. 17 by Baseball America. He’s had a very solid year at Double-A that included an appearance in the All-Star Futures Game in July in Arington, Tex.

Now, in just his second year of full-season minor league ball, he is moving up again. He began last year at Low-A Delmarva, moved to High-A Aberdeen and ended 2023 with Bowie, hitting 20 homers with an OPS of .953 for those clubs. This year he takes the step from Double-A to Triple-A having turned 20 just 12 days ago.

In 106 Bowie games, Basallo has hit .289/.355/.465/.820 with 22 doubles, 16 homers and 55 RBIs. Basallo began this season as a DH-only with the Orioles in big league camp after suffering a stress fracture in his right elbow over the winter. He’s been catching since early this season. He has made 45 starts this season catching with a 27 percent caught stealing percentage, 27 starts at first base and 29 as DH.

He became the 14^th Baysox player selected to play in the Futures Game, where he batted fourth for the American League team, going 0-for-1 with a walk.

It is not an exaggeration to say the Orioles have done very well in the MLB Draft. They have high picks near the top of the board they like, players like Adley Rutschman, Heston Kjerstad and Colton Cowser, and some that came a bit later that are now All-Stars, like Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg.

They have the No. 1 farm system in baseball, and that farm is a big reason they lead the American League East.

But as another draft is set to begin tomorrow night, the Orioles are confident, but not cocky, that they will do well again.

“I think we have some humility. We can’t just turn anything into gold. That is just not the reality,” the O’s vice president of player development and domestic scouting, Matt Blood, said Friday at Oriole Park in a predraft update with local media. “I think that good scouting makes good player development and good player development helps make good scouting. I like to think that our two departments are very in sync and aligned. I would really hope so now, since I am overseeing them both.

“But it is something we take a lot of pride in, is our efficiency of development. We are going to look for players we feel like we can help and players that, if they come to our system, they will have an even better chance to be major league contributors.”

BOWIE, Md. - From the day they signed him to a big bonus, the largest in their international signing class in January of 2021, the Orioles envisioned this for catcher Samuel Basallo from the Dominican Republic.

Big arm and big power.

He’s thrown runners out as a catcher and mashed homers with big exit velocity with his massive raw power. He has done all that and more on the O's watch. Last year he flew up prospects lists. He began the 2023 season as the No. 15 prospect on the O’s top 30 team list. Now that is the area he is ranked in on a top 100 list.

Basallo ended the 2023 season, one where he produced a .953 OPS between Low-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie, ranked No. 46 in the top 100 by both Baseball America and MLBPipeline.com. Right now, he is No. 12 by MLBPipeline and No. 16 via Baseball America.

Everyone in the industry knows he’s one of baseball’s top prospects. And he is taking his talents to Arlington, Tex. on July 13 to represent the Orioles in the All-Star Futures Game.

SEATTLE – The news yesterday that Double-A Bowie catcher Samuel Basallo was selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game stirred up further discussion about his standing in the Orioles organization. Specifically, how long he’ll be in it. How long he should be in it.

We should pause that topic and mention how he’s a deserving choice as the No. 2 prospect in a stacked farm system and 12^th in baseball, per MLB Pipeline’s newest rankings. He’s batting .279 with a .798 OPS, 14 doubles, 11 home runs and 34 RBIs in 69 games, and he had a double and run scored last night in Bowie’s 3-0 win over Richmond.

He’s a real weapon behind the plate, too.

Basallo has endured some health setbacks along the way, the most serious a stress fracture in his right elbow that limited his work in spring training and confined him to serving as designated hitter until April 30. The Futures Game assignment is a nice reward for his talent and perseverance.

Can he co-exist with Adley Rutschman on an Orioles roster, perhaps by 2025? Yes he can. James McCann gets plenty of work behind the plate with Rutschman’s rest consisting of DH duty. Basallo can do that and also play first base. It’s feasible. Why fight it?

Double-A Bowie catcher Samuel Basallo, one of baseball’s top prospects and a shining star of the Orioles international program, was selected today to take part in the All-Star Futures Game on July 13 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex.

Basallo is the only O’s rep in the game set for 4:10 p.m. ET that will be televised live on MLB Network.

Basallo, 19, is ranked as the Orioles’ No. 2 prospect behind Jackson Holliday who played in this game last year. He is rated No. 12 in the top 100 by MLBPipeline.com and No. 18 via Baseball America.

Basallo over 68 games this season for the Baysox, is batting .278/.338/.456/.794 with 13 doubles, 11 homers, 39 runs and 34 RBIs.

He got off to a slow start but produced an OPS of .791 in May and .894 in June.

The Orioles are nearing the end of a stretch of playing 30 games in 31 days since May 31. Even with the recent five-game losing steak, the team is 16-11 (.593) in this span with three games left in this series with Texas remaining before Monday's off-day to end this grueling span.

The Orioles have won series in this difficult stretch versus the Rays (twice), Braves, Phillies and Yankees. They split a four-game set in Toronto and lost series to the Astros and Guardians.

The six teams that would qualify for the American League playoffs if the season ended today are the Orioles, Yankees, Guardians, Mariners, Twins and Royals. The Birds are 6-1 in series against those clubs, going 15-7 overall.

In the first game between the Orioles and Rangers since Texas swept three in a row last October in the AL Division Series, the O's won 11-2, hitting four homers. Right-hander Corbin Burnes got the win on the mound, allowing one run over seven innings to now be 9-3 with a 2.28 ERA. He has 11 quality starts in his past 12 games with an ERA of 2.09 over that stretch.

Jordan Westburg's two-run double in the first gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead. Heston Kjerstad hit a two-run homer in the third and Cedric Mullins hit a two-run shot an inning later. The O's got solo homers from Adley Rutschman in the seventh and Colton Cowser in the eighth.

The Orioles score 11 runs in the series opener in Houston, allow 14 and lose because of the pitching. They’re held to four runs over the next three games and lose because of the hitting.

Well, mostly. The Astros scored eight runs Sunday to complete the sweep.

The team erupts for eight runs Tuesday night, collecting 16 hits and belting four home runs, and loses 10-8 because of the pitching. That’s how these things work. The arms, bats and gloves can conspire to create skids.

The brakes finally were applied last night, with only two runs allowed and three home runs hit in a 4-2 win.

Some of the rants on social media are aimed at executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias for failing to react after surgeries removed Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells for the rest of the season and reliever Danny Coulombe until perhaps September. Meanwhile, he’s actively searching for pitching. He’s engaged in talks with numerous executives. It just isn’t live-streamed on the internet.

Tim Cossins can bring a unique perspective as a member of the Orioles’ coaching staff.

Cossins is the major league field coordinator and catching instructor, but he relocated from the dugout to the bullpen during games in 2022. He’s equipped to talk about the relievers, too.

Maybe he also can be described as a Swiss Army knife. The Orioles are carrying a few of them.

Cossins spent a few minutes Sunday morning meeting with reporters outside the visiting clubhouse, his availability leading only to bullpen questions. After he jokingly said that he prepared to talk catching, taking a few steps toward the door, he had to spend three more minutes on that subject.

Let’s not forget his primary function, which also enables him to discuss catchers in the farm system.

ST. LOUIS – A storm producing heavy rain that rolled through Busch Stadium tonight just after 8 p.m local time has forced the suspension of tonight’s Orioles-Cardinals game.

The game will resume Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. local time (12:15 p.m ET) with the teams tied 1-1 and St. Louis coming to bat in the last of the sixth. When that game ends, and 30 minutes later, they will play Wednesday's regularly scheduled nine-inning game. 

Tonight, right-hander Kyle Bradish made his fourth start since coming off the injured list. Just like Dean Kremer last night, he had to pitch early on with no run support.

But he got the job done allowing one run over the first four innings on 61 pitches and twice stranding runners at second and third. He did that in the third and fourth innings by getting big outs.

The Orioles didn’t score until the sixth inning last night and not until the fifth tonight.

Just as the Orioles drew it up when this series began Monday night at Camden Yards.

OK, probably not. Even though they lost a starter in Grayson Rodriguez to injury during the Yankees series and now we know that Craig Kimbrel didn’t pitch once in the series, they would still shutdown a Yankees team that had scored 15 runs each on Saturday and Sunday at Milwaukee.

Oh, and Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna would hit big homers off lefty Carlos Rodón in the key series finale game. And Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb would record saves.

Yep, just as planned.

Sometimes it takes a village to win a key series or at least it takes an entire clubhouse. And the O’s got big contributions from many this series as they took three of four from the Yankees to gain the AL East lead by one game.

The Orioles have played nine series thus far, but just one versus an American League East opponent. They swept Boston at Fenway Park April 9-11 by 7-1, 7-5 and 9-4 scores.

That changes tonight when the top two teams in the AL East meet for four games over four days in a first-place showdown. After scoring a combined 30 runs the last two games at Milwaukee, the New York Yankees are 19-10 and lead the division by one game over the Orioles at 17-10.

Baltimore went 32-20 (.615) against the AL East last year, the second-best winning percentage against the division by the O's since 1981 behind the .618 (47-29) mark in 2014. The Birds won the season series against Toronto (10-3), and Tampa Bay (8-5), and went 7-6 each against Boston and New York. It was the first time since 2014 that the Orioles won the season series against each of their division opponents.

And beginning play tonight, the Orioles have a 15-series unbeaten streak riding against AL East opponents. They have won 11 and tied four series within their division since losing their first two of last season. This is the longest such streak in team history, topping 13 straight in 1969.

How important is a four-game series with the Yankees in April? It will be important for the Orioles to show they can hold their own with a New York team that a lot of outlets favored to win this division. They are the Yankees, and they always get attention, usually way too much. The Orioles won the division last year and they hold the current title of AL East champs.

Earlier this week when I was in Bowie, Md., to cover Kyle Bradish's first injury rehab start, I spent some time with Double-A Bowie manager Roberto Mercado to discuss his team's solid start to the new season.

It has been some weekend in Bowie with the Baysox winning Friday 5-4 over Altoona on a walk-off on John Rhodes' single in the 10th. Last night, Jud Fabian's grand slam in the last of the ninth was a walk-off winner 6-2. It was Fabian's second homer of the season and he's now batting .310 with a .944 OPS.

Bowie drew 7,159 fans on Friday and 7,988 on Saturday to Prince George's Stadium. 

Between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Baysox's increase in average home attendance was among the best in all of the minors and they are off to a good start at the turnstile this year.

Bowie is now 8-6 and through Friday's games had a plus-12 run differential ranked third-best in the 12-team league thus far. Bowie led the league with 77 runs scored and also with an .817 OPS. Bowie's team ERA of 4.34 was eighth-best in the Eastern League.

BOWIE. Md. – Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish, who had not pitched in a game since the American League Division Series in October, took the mound beginning his minor league rehab assignment for Double-A Bowie against Altoona last night.

He said he would treat the rehab assignment like his spring training as he comes back from a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow that required a platelet-rich plasma injection.

Bradish’s “spring” is off to a great start.

He was dealing from his first pitch at Prince George’s Stadium. Touching 95 and 96 mph on the stadium radar gun, he allowed one line drive single and no runs in three scoreless innings. He walked no one and fanned four. He threw 44 pitches, 26 for strikes. He threw all of his pitches, getting strikeouts with three different offerings and got, by my count, 11 swinging strikes.

He looked in mid-season form.