For some pro baseball players, a long, long season will end tonight in the Arizona Fall League championship game. O’s top 30 prospect Creed Willems is one of that group.

Spring training was a long time ago and so was his Opening Day with High-A Aberdeen April 5. It was a year where he missed several weeks mid-summer with a left hamstring injury. But he also advanced to Double-A Bowie for the season’s final 16 games. He put up a .784 OPS between the IronBirds and Baysox. He’s had a strong 19-game run for Surprise in the AFL, which hosts tonight’s championship game at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network.

Then he will drive home to Texas and finally get some rest after a solid season for the O’s No. 22 prospect via MLBPipeline.com and No. 25 on Baseball America.

A catcher and lefty hitter, the O’s drafted Willems in round eight of the 2021 MLB Draft. He had a strong college commitment to TCU. But an over-slot $1 million dollar signing bonus sent him on his way to pro ball.

In 19 games for Surprise in the AFL, he’s hit a robust .338/.391/.500/.891 with five doubles, a triple, two homers and 11 RBIs. He played in the Fall Stars game.

Coming off a season that produced the Orioles' biggest attendance increase in nine years, the club is holding an event soon to invite more fans to purchase tickets for games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The O’s will host a Birdland Member Select-A-Seat event on Saturday, Nov. 16 from 10 a.m. to noon at the ballpark in downtown Baltimore.

The event is open to the public for fans interested in purchasing a 2025 Birdland Membership or Suite Package. Fans can choose their Oriole Park seat location and learn about the benefits of becoming a Birdland member.

Those interested can RSVP at Orioles.com/SelectASeat. The deadline to RSVP for this event is Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.

Once someone RSVPs, an O’s ticket rep will reach out to confirm their participation and provide more details regarding the event.

BALTIMORE – Like most Maryland kids, James Wood grew up going to Orioles games at Camden Yards. And like most Maryland kids, he also grew up picking steamed blue crabs.

On Tuesday night, the Olney, Md., native got to relive both childhood memories in the Nationals’ 9-3 rout of the Orioles in Baltimore.

“It was definitely cool coming to Baltimore because, a lot of times, this is where I would watch games growing up,” Wood said after last night’s game. ”It was just a lot of fun out there. I was just enjoying it.”

What was not to enjoy? Wood finished his first game at Camden Yards 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. His four hits had exit velocities of 99.5, 102.7, 105.8 and 105.9 mph to keep him in the 95th percentile in the major leagues.

After Wood started his night 4-for-4 – already his second four-hit performance in his first 37 big league games – his mom, Paula, tweeted a picture of a young James and his grandfather watching a game at Camden Yards.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The lights on the 2024 baseball season are dimmed for a few days. Teams can conduct business, but they aren’t playing until Friday.

The trade deadline is July 30. Trust me, they haven’t shut down completely.

The 94^th All-Star Game is history, with the American League winning 5-3 in 2 hours and 28 minutes, the quickest since 1988. Letting the Rangers host at Life Globe Field provided coverage.

A roof, I mean. The media was gonna cover it anyway.

The high temperature yesterday was 102 degrees, edging out Baltimore if the weather app on my phone was accurate. And this was an issue on Monday with unnecessarily long lines to pick up credentials and to enter through the media gate.

The final out was made in the bottom of the third inning tonight and Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos and Governor Wes Moore appeared on the video board in center field. They were applauding. Big smiles on their faces. Huge news printed below them.

The Orioles, Moore and the State of Maryland, and the Maryland Stadium Authority agreed to a deal that will keep the team in Baltimore and at Camden Yards for at least the next 30 years.

The current lease was set to expire on Dec. 31. Angelos, Moore and commissioner Rob Manfred kept insisting that the club wasn’t moving, but fans wanted a commitment.

They got it on a night when the Orioles are trying to clinch their first division title since 2014.

The agreement covers a guaranteed 30 years, with two five-year extension options, according to the Baltimore Banner, and enables the Orioles to unlock the $600 million in state bonds for stadium improvements. Same as the NFL’s Ravens, who signed a 15-year extension with options on Jan. 4.

Now that he got his first Orioles start out of the way – and it was a good one last Thursday at Toronto’s Rogers Centre – tonight right-hander Jack Flaherty will make his Oriole Park debut for his new team. 

Acquired just minutes before the trade deadline from the St. Louis Cardinals, the 27-year-old Flaherty, a free agent at the end of this season, got the win at Toronto in his O’s debut. He had a shutout going through five on 58 pitches and gave up one run but pitched out of a jam in the Toronto sixth.

It was a solid six-inning outing where he gave up just four hits and a run with two walks and eight strikeouts on 92 pitches. He was getting whiffs on all his pitches and his 19 swings and misses were his second-highest total in 21 starts between two teams. The eight strikeouts was a total he has produced just four times this year and he allowed one run or less for the eighth time between the Cardinals and Orioles.

The day he pitched against the Blue Jays, right-hander Kyle Gibson talked about his new rotation mate.

“When you can bring in a veteran starter that has that kind of track record of getting deep into games and having swing and miss stuff (it's great),” he said. “Being a guy that has playoff experience and has pitched at the highest level of the game. I think he can bring a lot. He’s still really young."

Orioles CEO and Chairman John Angelos and Gov. Wes Moore issued a joint statement this morning saying that progress is being made on their vision to “expand and revitalize the Camden Yards campus.”

The timing of the statement comes as the All-Star break nears its conclusion, which probably isn't a coincidence.

Angelos told the media in February, during a visit to the spring training complex in Sarasota, that he hoped a new stadium lease would be finalized by the break as a “gift for everybody, really, in the community.” However, a deal with the Maryland Stadium Authority hasn’t been struck.

Today’s statement didn’t provide details on negotiations or a timeline, but it read:

“The last four months have been exciting on and off the field. Baltimore City and the State of Maryland all have Orioles fever. We’ve laid the groundwork for success, and progress is also being made on our vision to expand and revitalize the Camden Yards campus. 

After playing series in Boston and Texas, the Orioles will finally reunite with their home fans today for Opening Day in Baltimore. The Orioles (3-3) host the New York Yankees (4-2) to start a three-game series and seven-game homestand.

The Orioles have gone 45-24 in home openers in club history, including 21-10 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Birds defeated the Milwaukee Brewers last year, 2-0, to snap a three-season losing streak in home openers since 2019. The Orioles are 4-4 when their home opener is against the Yankees. The last time they played New York on this day was 2020 – a 9-3 Yankees win. They also won home openers versus New York in 1964, 1972, 2002 and 2009.  

The Orioles own a 1,199-1,222-2 (.495) all-time record in 2,423 games at Oriole Park since 1992. The Birds have mashed 3,012 home runs at Oriole Park since the ballpark opened, including 55 long balls that have landed on the iconic Eutaw Street promenade that separates the ballpark and the historic B&O Warehouse.

The Orioles went 1-2 at Boston and 2-1 at Texas. Wednesday’s 5-2 loss at Texas snapped Baltimore’s eight-game win streak against that club.

The O's opened the 2023 season by hitting multiple home runs in each of their first five games, tied for the third-longest streak to start a season by a team since at least 1901, and tied with the 1994 Orioles for the longest streak in club history. Baltimore was the only MLB team to start the ‘23 campaign with five consecutive multi-homer games. This marked the fifth time in club history that the Orioles homered in each of their first five games to start a season, and first since 2012.

SARASOTA, Fla. – Maryland Governor Wes Moore tonight said he is very confident the Orioles will soon have a new lease to play well into the future at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He said things “are moving fast” to get that done.

The Governor and Orioles Chairman & CEO John Angelos visited The Battery Atlanta on Thursday, to explore the 365-day entertainment experience around Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. The Battery Atlanta is a 2,000,000-square-foot mixed-use destination, which offers an unprecedented entertainment experience including shops, restaurants, and a 4,000-seat venue for all genres of live music.

Today the Governor met with team officials and O’s players and threw out the first pitch before tonight’s spring training game at Ed Smith Stadium with Minnesota.

The Orioles current lease expires Dec. 31. Angelos has expressed confidence that a new lease could be completed by the All-Star break.

“I’m very confident that we are moving fast on this," Governor Moore said. "It should not be lost on anybody that the first trip that I took outside of the state was down here. Was to spend time with the Orioles. To make sure they understand how big of a priority this is for me and how big a priority this is for the state. So we feel very confident that we have the same goal. The goal is to make sure there is Orioles baseball in Baltimore for generations to come. I feel very good about our prospects to get this deal done very quickly.”

Oriole Park at Camden Yards will host another major concert in September. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band have announced additional North American dates for their 2023 international tour in 18 cities.

“As a lifelong fan of Bruce Springsteen and of my hometown, it’s an honor to announce that on Sept. 9, 2023, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will play their first ever outdoor stadium show in Baltimore at Oriole Park at Camden Yards,” said Orioles Chairman and CEO, John Angelos. 

The newly added shows will begin at Chicago's Wrigley Field on Aug. 9 and running through Dec. 8 at San Francisco's Chase Center. Multiple nights have been scheduled for Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park (Aug. 16 and 18), New Jersey's MetLife Stadium (Aug. 30 and Sept. 1), Toronto's Scotiabank Arena (Nov. 14 and 16) and Los Angeles' Kia Forum (Dec. 4 and 6). Tickets for the 22 added North American shows will go on sale over the course of the next two weeks.

For many cities, the tour will be using Verified Fan via Ticketmaster. Verified Fan requires pre-registration at verifiedfan.ticketmaster.com/springsteen and is open through Sunday Feb. 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Verified Fan is intended to make it easier for fans to get tickets, and harder for resellers and bots.

For more information about Verified Fan visit blog.ticketmaster.com/bruce-springsteen-e-street-band2023/.

While declining an option to extend their stadium lease by five more years at tonight’s deadline, leading to further negotiations that must be resolved by Dec. 31, the Orioles have issued a joint statement with newly elected Governor Wes Moore announcing their mutual commitment to reimagining Camden Yards and delivering "a live, work, play theme that will bring residents, businesses, and tourists to downtown Baltimore year-round.”

Improvements can be made after a new lease is agreed upon with the Maryland Stadium Authority, which unlocks the Orioles’ half of the $1.2 billion in funding that the state set aside for upgrades to the complex.

The press release included mention of “a long-term, multi-decade, public-private partnership that both develops and revitalizes the Camden Yards complex as a magnet for sports tourism and leverages Maryland taxpayers’ investment in the property.”

“When Camden Yards opened thirty years ago, the Baltimore Orioles revolutionized baseball and set the bar for the fan experience,” Moore said in a statement. “We share the commitment of the Orioles organization to ensuring that the team is playing in a world-class facility at Camden Yards for decades to come and are excited to advance our public-private partnership. We look forward to writing the next chapter of major league baseball in Maryland as we continue to make magic for fans and meaningful investment for communities across our state.”

Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos added in a statement: “I am looking forward to continuing to collaborate with Governor Moore, his administration, and the Maryland Stadium Authority in order to bring to Baltimore the modern, sustainable, and electrifying sports and entertainment destination the State of Maryland deserves.

Perhaps fueled with some momentum from the pregame ceremony and celebration of 30 years of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the current group of Birds got off to a fast start today against Pittsburgh.

Not long after the fans cheered Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson, Eddie Murray and Mike Mussina with gusto, among others that returned, the 2022 Orioles scored once in the first and twice in the second off Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker to take an early 3-0 lead.

The Pirates would close the gap but the Orioles did their part toward making the day a party and a success with a 6-3 win over the Pirates before an enthusiastic crowd of 41,086 at the ballpark. That is the second-largest crowd of the year behind opening day. 

Before the game Robinson and Murray spoke to the Orioles players. Manager Brandon Hyde said it meant so much to his team.

“Priceless day for our guys,” said Hyde. “We were so honored to have Brooks and Eddie in our clubhouse to say a few words of encouragement. Just greatness in our clubhouse. Our guys felt it, they were appreciative. The whole ceremony was fantastic. I think our whole team was out there for it to recognize some great moments here over the last 30 years and the people that were a part of it. Really impressed with everything, but the cherry on top was Brooks and Eddie being in our clubhouse.”

The family tables have turned for the Hollidays.

Jackson Holliday is no longer “Matt’s son,” as he’s been referenced for most of his life. Matt Holliday, who had a 15-year major league career and made seven All-Star teams, was introduced today as “Jackson’s dad” to begin a press conference at Camden Yards.

Much to his amusement.

The former outfielder repeated the line before and after sitting down in front of the cameras and recorders. It already felt natural. It gave him another reason to be proud.

The Orioles selected Jackson with the first-overall pick in the MLB Draft, signed him to a contract this afternoon and introduced him to the local media. Matt, wife Leslee, children Ethan, Reed and Gracyn and Jackson's girlfriend Chloe Cox sat in the front row as Jackson buttoned his Orioles jersey and pulled down his cap.

The Orioles revealed plans today for the 30^th anniversary celebration of Camden Yards on Aug. 5-6, including the return of former players Chris Davis, Jay Gibbons, Robert Andino, Chris Hoiles, Rick Sutcliffe, Jeff Reboulet and Rodrigo López on the first night.

Other former players have been invited to participate. This is just an early list.

The group will attend a luncheon on the sixth floor of the warehouse and participate in a question-and-answer session. The event begins at noon and includes a silent auction, raffles and door prizes.

Tickets are available by contacting Keiko Baker of the Oriole Advocates at (443) 596-7691 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. A limited number of VIP tickets, including a pre-luncheon reception, also are available.

The first 20,000 fans 15-and-over attending the Friday night game against the Pirates will receive a Cedric Mullins 30/30 club bobblehead.

When the 2022 season began and the Orioles and their opponents were scoring so few runs at Oriole Park, we all seemed to figure this was due to the moving back of the left-field wall. It was tougher to hit homers and now it was simply going to be much tougher to score runs in Baltimore.

And this is what team officials wanted, right? A park that would play much more fair for offense and stop giving up popups into left field that seemed to carry out for cheap homers.

Some of the scores reflected that thinking and led us to think that way about the new-look ballpark. In those first six games at Camden Yards, the Orioles won 2-0, lost 5-4, won 4-2, won 2-1 in 11 innings, lost 5-2 and won 5-0. Not even the Yankees could put up big offense here, held to six runs in three games while losing two of three in their first series in the park.

They were not happy. Are they ever?

I digress. But the scores have been very different in some recent games in the ballpark. Games where the Orioles won by scores that came by 9-6, 8-6, 7-6, 9-2, 5-4 and 9-3.