DENVER - The Orioles are in Colorado for three games against the last-place Rockies, who are a bottom-three team in the majors. They are polar opposites of the Dodgers. It’s like drinking San Pellegrino or straight from the garden hose.

The clubs met at Camden Yards last summer and the Orioles won two of three, with each game decided by a single run. The Rockies won two of three in 2019 at Coors Field during the infant stages of the Orioles’ rebuild.

Known as “infant” because it made you cry every hour.

In the Orioles’ lone victory, Keon Broxton played center field and Stevie Wilkerson was in left. Hanser Alberto batted leadoff. Josh Lucas tossed three scoreless innings for his only major league save.

My only memory of that series isn’t Josh Lucas. It’s Broxton swinging at the first pitch thrown to him as an Oriole, by former prospect Jeff Hoffman, and hitting it 474 feet onto the left field concourse. Jaws dropped in the press box simultaneously, creating a sound louder than the home run.

The Orioles won’t allow their roster to stop evolving. They are adding players for Friday’s expansion and figure to keep shuffling through the month of September.

The first two moves are decided, with outfielder Colton Cowser and reliever Joey Krehbiel joining the club in Arizona, according to a source. The club hasn’t made an announcement.

These are initial reinforcements who don’t close business.

Cowser made his major league debut on July 5 in New York and appeared in 26 games before the Orioles optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. He went 7-for-61 with two doubles, four RBIs, 13 walks and 22 strikeouts.

Over 69 games with the Tides, Cowser batted .314/.440/.524 with 15 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs and 45 RBIs in 315 plate appearances.

The Orioles are off today, flying into Arizona after yesterday’s loss to spend more time enjoying the dry heat. Think of it as a pizza oven except there’s no melted mozzarella.

Their roster expands by a pitcher and a position player on Friday. They’d do it anyway, but teams don’t have the option of staying at 26.

The dog days of August are gone. We’ve moved onto September baseball as a contender, and it’s the home stretch no matter where the schedule takes you.

“This is definitely an exciting time right now for our club,” manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday. “Going back to the West Coast. I feel like we were just there. It’s an important road trip, every game matters right now, every game’s important. And it’s a lot of fun playing in games that matter.”

Can’t flip the pages of the calendar without finding more questions, which isn’t as enjoyable.

The Orioles are finishing their homestand this afternoon, taking a day off and embarking on a three-city road trip that begins in Arizona.

The move into a new month, the last full one before the playoffs, brings another set of important roster decisions.

Expansion to 28 is permitted on Friday, an extra pitcher and position player. A task that’s trickier with the choices coming from the minors and injured list.

This isn’t as routine as attaching two names. A few others will need to go.

Outfielder Aaron Hicks is hoping to be reinstated while the Orioles are in Anaheim for a series that starts Monday. He’s taking batting practice at “high velocity,” as he described it, and will be on the charter to the West Coast.

The All-Star break is now over and the Nationals will continue their season tonight. They start the second half with three games against the Cardinals in St. Louis before moving on to face the Cubs in Chicago.

Their 36-54 record puts them in last place in the National League East but on pace for a 10-win improvement from last year.

Not that the Nationals would ever do this, but the new rules are designed to prevent tanking and the Nats can’t pick higher than 10th overall in the first round of next year’s draft anyway. So they’ll be staying in the fight each game the rest of the way, as they did throughout the first half.

September baseball means expanded rosters and playoff chases. Will the Nats bring up any of their top prospects? Could they play spoiler to some of their October-hopeful rivals?

We now know the 2024 schedule. The first five most intriguing series of the 2023 second half are here. Here are five more of the most intriguing matchups as the Nats finish out the 2023 season:

More than three weeks after 26-man rosters were expanded by just two players per an agreement between Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, Nationals manager Davey Martinez still isn't sure what to make of the new rules and the tighter stretch-run rosters. "I haven't decided yet, honestly," Martinez said via Zoom before Saturday's game against the Reds in Cincinnati. "Because in situations where you're fighting for a playoff spot, and all of a sudden you can expand your...