SARASOTA, Fla. – Cedric Mullins is the last man standing, and running, among the trio of young outfielders who made their way from the minors to Camden Yards.

Austin Hays was traded to the Phillies last summer and he signed with the Reds as a free agent. Anthony Santander received a five-year deal with the Blue Jays.

Mullins is approaching his own free agency as he prepares for his eighth season in the majors. The Orioles drafted him in 2015.

“On the personal side, there’s a lot of focus involved, of course, but on the team side of things, it’s business as usual,” Mullins said. “We go about it day by day, looking to improve the team.”

Santander’s big personality is conspicuous by its absence in the clubhouse. However, the Orioles will be in Toronto for a four-game opening series, so the reunion isn’t too far down the runway.

SARASOTA, Fla. – I took a long walk around the outside of the Ed Smith Stadium facility yesterday to get in some steps – my Fitbit kept checking whether I was dead – and to snap a few photos. The sun periodically would duck behind the clouds and the wind picked up in intensity, but escaping the latest snow storm back home made it more than tolerable.

I also went into the team store and bought a 4T shirt. I’ve gone down a few sizes since my heart surgery and orders to shelve workouts for a while, but it also should fit my granddaughter.

The sounds of batting practice could be heard in the distance, likely one hitter in the cage on a back field. Media access begins today, enabling us to put faces with the swings.

During a recent radio hit, I was asked about the most difficult part of covering spring training. I chose the inability to be in more than one place at a time. Watch a bullpen session and risk missing BP. Wander over to Field 3 and miss something important on the main stadium field. Return to the press box to write and risk missing everything.

You’ve just got to make your choices and live with them, which also is good relationship advice.

Having a big season for an MLB player can be a blessing or a curse. Not really a curse, like selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees cursed the Red Sox all those years, but maybe burden is the right word. Now fans and perhaps even team management expect more of the same.

For Orioles center field Cedric Mullins, his magical 2021 season now looks like an outlier. He has not produced similar stats since. He started the All-Star game that year – his only All-Star appearance – won a Silver Slugger and finished ninth in the AL MVP race.

Over 159 games he hit .291/.360/.518/.878 and produced the first season of 30 homers and steals in O’s history with exactly 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.

Mullins’ .878 OPS that year ranked eighth-best in the American League in a season when only five players in the league topped .900. His OPS for the year topped several prominent players, a list that includes Yordan Álvarez, Marcus Semien, Teoscar Hernández, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Salvador Pérez and Carlos Correa.

But since 2022, his OPS numbers, while consistent, have been well behind that one great year. He was at .721 in 2022, .721 in 2023 and .710 last year, producing OPS+ totals of 107, 101 and 107 after putting up 137 for 2021.

SEATTLE – By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the fact that the Orioles have secured their first winning month since Aug. 2017. That’s a really long time. 

What’s been behind that winning month? 

The O’s have gone 14-10 in June, outscoring their opponents 121-96, good for a +25 run differential. The offense has averaged 5.03 runs per game over that stretch, which is third-best in the American League.

Last night’s nine runs showcased just how potent this offense can be. 

“Excited with how we swung the bat last night,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “We did a great job of grinding out a starter, spoiling a bunch of pitches. Even our outs were loud at times.”

Among the many questions to land in the recent mailbag was one that I put aside to give it a little more thought and provide a more expansive response.

Who will get more starts in center field next season, Cedric Mullins or Colton Cowser?

The immediate response is Mullins because he’s exclusively a center fielder and Cowser is first in line for left. Mullins made 121 starts in the middle this year and Cowser made 36 in center, 91 in left and six in right.

That’s advantage Mullins. It should be sustained next season.

I’d still expect Mullins to be the primary center fielder in 2025 after the Orioles tendered him a contract, with MLBTradeRumors.com projecting his salary at $8.7 million. He is a year away from free agency, with 2023 first-round draft pick Enrique Bradfield Jr. waiting in the wings after climbing to Double-A over the summer.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Tendered 2025 contracts to LHP Keegan Akin, RHP Kyle Bradish, RHP Dean Kremer, INF/OF Jorge Mateo, INF Ryan Mountcastle, OF Cedric Mullins, LHP Trevor Rogers, C Adley Rutschman, LHP Gregory Soto, INF Ramón Urías, and RHP Tyler Wells, as well as all pre-arbitration 40-man players.
• Agreed to terms with INF Emmanuel Rivera on a one-year contract for the 2025 season, avoiding arbitration.
• Declined to tender a contract to RHP Jacob Webb, allowing him to become a free agent.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 38 players.

Major League Baseball has reached another important deadline today, with teams required to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players. It’s known as the “non-tender” date. Good for baseball, bad for steakhouse chefs.

The Orioles went a surprising 17-for-17 last year and they have 13 players to consider this afternoon. As usual, there are the slam dunks and the shaky on the perimeters.

The list stood at 16 before the Orioles did some whittling, including the decision to pick up left-handed reliever Cionel Pérez’s $2.2 million option for 2025. They could have declined it and negotiated a new deal.

Pitchers Matt Bowman and Burch Smith elected free agency rather than outright assignments.

At the risk of being wrong again, which never stops me from trying, I’ll predict that the Orioles go 13-for-13.

During spring training, I asked O's center fielder Cedric Mullins to ponder a possibility. And that was that the 2024 season could be the last together for the trio of Mullins, Austin Hays and Anthony Santander. 

We knew then that Santander would be a free agent at the end of the season. We didn’t know then that Hays would be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in July. The gang is already broken up.

On Opening Day next year, it’s possible that Mullins will stand alone. Hays is gone and Santander could be next.

“It’s has definitely popped into my head, that this could be the last go around,” Mullins told me during that March 2024 interview. “At the same time, we want this to be the best one if that is the case. We know how the business works. It is what it is. There is always that hope, that possibility that we stick around for the long haul. But if that is the case, let’s go out with a bang," said Mullins.

Winning 10 fewer games and winning none in the postseason is not what Mullins had in mind then.

The Orioles have lost yet another close postseason game to the Kansas City Royals. Swept four straight in the 2014 American League Championship Series by six total runs, they lost a pair of one-run games to K.C. in this AL Wild Card round.

They lose 2-1 today and scored just one run in the series. The Royals advance to play the No. 1 seed Yankees in a series that begins on Saturday in the Bronx. 

The Orioles are now 0-6 all-time in the playoffs versus the Royals by eight total runs.

After a 91-71 regular season and a second-place AL East finish, the season ends again in early October.

The O’s have lost 10 straight in the postseason.

The music didn't play. The reflections from the disco lights didn't bounce off the walls and ceiling. The Orioles sat in silence at their lockers or circled the room and hugged, failing to repeat as division champions and now mimicking last year’s morose elimination setting.

The losing streak in the playoffs has reached 10 games. Any chance to snap it must wait until 2025.

The Royals broke a tie in the sixth inning on Bobby Witt Jr.’s infield single with two outs that scored Kyle Isbel, and the Orioles lost 2-1 in a do-or-die Game 2 of the Wild Card series before an announced crowd of 38,698 at Camden Yards.

That’s it. Being all-in with the winter trade for Corbin Burnes and talking about avenging last year’s ouster in the Division Series in Texas led to another sweep. Too many injuries and too little offense.

And now, a lot of time to think about it.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde took a temperature check of his team this morning. He walked in the clubhouse and the weight room. No one seemed to be sweating yesterday’s loss that pushed them to the brink of elimination in the Wild Card round.

“I think it's totally business as usual,” Hyde said.

“I think guys are in great spirits and ready to get after it today.”

They must or there’s no tomorrow.

“I have all the faith in the world in this team,” said Colton Cowser. “I think yesterday it was just one of those days. I think our guys, we're really confident, really comfortable, and we're looking forward to bouncing back.”

It was the pitcher’s duel that many expected. It was a game where one run was scored and today the visitors got it.

The Orioles' playoff losing streak, dating to 2014, reached nine today as they lost 1-0 to Kansas City on Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI single in the top of the sixth.

O’s starter Corbin Burnes, who allowed one run over eight innings plus, was outstanding today, just as he was late in the year.

But now the Orioles have to win two straight games to advance out of this Wild Card round.

Some quick thoughts on Game 1:

Corbin Burnes threw his last warmup pitch, stepped off the mound, turned his back to home plate and settled into a crouch before his catcher could do it. With his head lowered, he chose a crowded venue to hold a private moment.

Burnes finally stood, faced home plate and owned it again.

This is why the Orioles traded for him. To start on Opening Day and in Game 1 of a playoff series, in this instance the Wild Card round. To be that guy. But he can’t score runs for himself.

Bobby Witt Jr. singled with two outs in the sixth inning to produce the first lead of the day, and the Orioles were silenced by Cole Ragans and three relievers in a deflating 1-0 loss today before an announced crowd of 41,506 at Camden Yards.

The playoff losing streak has reached nine games dating back to the Royals’ sweep in the 2014 Championship Series. They need to win Wednesday afternoon with Zach Eflin starting or be shut down again.

NEW YORK – A win tonight and the Orioles would clinch the home Wild Card. A loss and the Yankees would finally pop champagne corks as division champions, the jubilation put on ice for the first two games of the series. The out-of-town scoreboard didn’t require watching. The important stuff was happening on the field.

The starting pitchers were worthy of the importance attached – former Cy Young winners Corbin Burnes and Gerrit Cole. Lay down your aces.

The Orioles are eyeing bigger stakes. They shuffled the deck, shortening Burnes to five innings and 69 pitches to freshen him for Tuesday’s assignment. And the game collapsed like a house of cards.

Burnes’ only mistake was a solo homer by Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees scored six times in the sixth inning against three relievers, Aaron Judge delivered a towering two-run shot in the seventh, and the Orioles were eliminated from the American League East race with a 10-1 loss in the Bronx. They’ll try to secure the first Wild Card this weekend in Minnesota.

Cole shut out the Orioles (88-71) on two hits in 6 2/3 innings and the Yankees avoided the sweep.

NEW YORK – The Orioles can clinch the home Wild Card with a win tonight or a Tigers loss this afternoon. The Rays are ahead 3-2 in the seventh.

Update: The Tigers rallied for a 4-3 win.

James McCann is catching tonight and Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter. Jordan Westburg stays at second base, batting second, and Ramón Urías is the third baseman. He’s batting seventh.

Colton Cowser stays in the cleanup spot. Ryan O’Hearn is the first baseman.

Corbin Burnes makes his final start before an expected Game 1 assignment in the playoffs. His last two starts came against the Tigers and he tossed a combined 14 scoreless innings with five hits and 15 strikeouts. He faced the Yankees on May 1 at Camden Yards and allowed two runs in six innings – Oswaldo Cabrera’s two-run homer.

NEW YORK – The Orioles didn’t arrive in the Bronx today with a clinching hangover. They partied hard last night, drenching each other in champagne and beer, and sprayed singles all over Yankee Stadium.

Fill-in starter Marcus Stroman couldn’t record an out on his own in the first inning until facing his seventh batter, resulting in three runs and a wire-to-wire lead in the Orioles’ 9-7 victory before an announced crowd of 41,010.

They were ahead 9-3 in the ninth before Matt Bowman surrendered four runs, the last three on Aaron Judge's 57th homer. Keegan Akin registered his first save since 2022.

Zach Eflin battled unusual control problems, setting a career high with five walks, and he came out after 4 2/3 innings in his shortest start since June 5 in Miami. The bullpen registered 3 1/3 scoreless until Bowman entered, and the Orioles improved to 88-70.

The Tigers also won tonight, leaving the magic number at one for the Orioles to secure the home Wild Card in a series that begins Oct. 1. They moved to within four games of first place.

Players arrived at Camden Yards this morning unsure whether they’d celebrate a playoff berth later in the afternoon. Some wondered where they’d do it. Whether they’d hang around the clubhouse and wait for the result of the Mariners game or board a train to New York. Is there time to cover lockers, furniture and the floor in plastic or just toast the achievement?

They had to beat the Tigers, of course, or it didn’t matter.

The magic number also can make plans disappear.

Albert Suárez matched his season and career highs with three home runs allowed. The Orioles battled back to tie the score in the fifth before Kerry Carpenter burned Súarez again leading off the sixth, and the Tigers held on for a 4-3 victory before an announced sellout crowd of 44,040 that kept pumping electricity through every section of Camden Yards.

Hopes of winning the last regular season home game were short-circuited.

Cedric Mullins is back in the Orioles’ lineup today, playing center field and batting second.

Mullins took early batting practice on the field this afternoon with head athletic trainer Brian Ebel watching and also ran the bases. Mullins wasn’t available last night due to neck soreness caused by his collision Thursday with right fielder Austin Slater.

The Orioles selected outfielder Daniel Johnson’s contract to provide a left-handed bat for the outfield in case Mullins couldn’t play. Terrin Vavra is on the 24-hour taxi squad.

Ramón Urías wasn’t reinstated today from the 15-day injured list.

Heston Kjerstad is the designated hitter. Jackson Holliday is playing second base. Colton Cowser is the cleanup hitter.

Manager Brandon Hyde isn’t ready or willing to contribute to the publication of his team’s obit. Not with more games to play, possession of the first wild card and champagne to chill. He’ll keep trying to clear the air of any negativity.

Hyde isn’t blind to the season’s downward turn, but he retains full confidence in the Orioles' ability to get hot again.

Beyond the usual injury and rehab updates, Hyde spent most of his nine-minute pregame media session rehashing what’s gone wrong during a sub-.500 second half and slippage in the division race. Exactly when he began to worry. Why slumps are lasting for long periods.

Hyde finished with a quip about his players occupying the top of Triple-A Norfolk’s lineup, rose from his chair and returned to his office. And the Orioles backed his trust.

A blown save in the top of the ninth inning was followed by Anthony Santander's two-run walk-off homer and a much-needed 5-3 win over the Giants before an announced crowd of 23,181 at Camden Yards. Bedlam ensued. The Orioles were eager to release their frustration and it spilled all over the dugout, track and home plate.

The Orioles didn’t find their mojo tonight.

Talk earlier of getting on a roll proved to be well-intended but hollow. The Orioles were down after two pitches from Albert Suárez, fell further behind in the second inning and lost to the Giants 10-0 before an announced crowd of 23,967 that sat through periods of light rain at Camden Yards.

The club can’t find cover from a steady shower of poor performances.

Their record fell to 84-67 with eight losses in the last 11 games, and the deficit behind the Yankees grew to four.

Craig Kimbrel allowed a season-high four runs in the ninth before leaving the game on a groundball single, uncontested stolen base, wild pitch, walk, fielder’s choice RBI bunt by Brett Wisely with a late throw to the plate, 12-pitch walk, two-run single by LaMonte Wade Jr. and Heliot Ramos’ RBI double. It got worse. Matt Bowman let both inherited runners score on Michael Conforto’s single, leaving Kimbrel with a career-high six runs. He hadn't surrendered more than four in his 15-year career.