The Orioles maintained their streak yesterday of conducting business or announcing it on an off-day. Well, pretty much every day, under any circumstances. Don't get too attached to the roster. Of course, there's bound to be separation when a team is 38-72 and unable to stay healthy. The Orioles designated reliever Conner Greene for assignment Saturday and recalled Isaac Mattson from Triple-A Norfolk. The Dodgers claimed Greene off waivers yesterday. This was the last loose end, needing...

There is no one stat in baseball that gives us a complete picture of player. No one stat that provides a thorough overview of that player's skills and run production on offense. But OPS - on-base percentage plus slugging percentage - is not bad to provide solid context. Through Sunday's games, the top two in the American League in OPS are kind of in a class by themselves. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is first at 1.047 and Shohei Ohtani is next at 1.015. Oakland's Matt Olson is third at .954, and...

So, anything interesting happen around here recently? The last two weeks of July, to be honest, were as eventful as any two weeks in Nationals history, aside from perhaps the final two weeks of October 2019. Even having had some time now to process everything that happened, I'm not sure I can fully grasp everything that did occur. It was nuts. And the end result of all that is a completely reshaped franchise, one that now is far more focused on future success than current success. It's a...

There are no easy or obvious solutions to the Orioles' explosive bullpen, holes in the rotation and thinning roster due to injuries. Not unless the production picks up at its highest affiliate. That would at least provide an option. Relievers have surrendered 52 runs in the past five games - 16 scored in the eighth inning in the Rays' sweep - and manager Brandon Hyde can't be criticized for running the same group into games every night. He can't be ripped for ignoring hot hands that simply...

Catcher Adley Rutschman's work at Double-A is done. The Orioles are promoting Rutschman to Triple-A Norfolk, according to a source. His final game with the Bowie Baysox unfolded earlier today when he started behind the plate in Somerset and went 0-for-3 in a 7-0 loss to the Patriots, who registered a combined no-hitter. Luis Severino, with Somerset on an injury rehab assignment, tossed four perfect innings. Rutschman appeared in 80 games in his first season with Bowie and batted .271/.392/.508...

There is no doubt it was a frustrating weekend in Birdland. The Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays were tied 5-5 in the eighth on Friday, the O's were down 5-3 in the eighth on Saturday and they led 5-3 in the eighth on Sunday. But they gave up 16 runs total in the eighth innings of those games and lost all three. It is pretty remarkable for a team to score that many runs that late to win all three games. But the Rays improved to 11-1 against the Orioles this year and to 6-0 at Oriole Park, where they...

The Orioles closed out their series against the Rays today trying to dodge a sweep and keep the runs allowed under 10 for the first time in five games, with one of their best hitters removed from the active roster and a couple other starters banged up on the bench. A volatile bullpen received a fresh arm. The Orioles needed a fresh start. Cedric Mullins gave them a hot one with his leadoff home run in the first inning, making him the seventh player in Orioles history with a 20/20 season...

Before another implosion by the Orioles bullpen turned a potential series-ending win into a loss today, O's starter Jorge López was very solid and Cedric Mullins became the seventh 20-20 player in team history. But after scoring five runs in the eighth on Friday and again on Saturday, the Rays got six in the eighth this afternoon. Paul Fry walked three in the inning and Dillon Tate allowed a tiebreaking grand slam to Brett Phillips as Tampa Bay swept the Orioles with a 9-6 win. The Rays...

The Nationals' objective over the final two months of this season, first and foremost, is to identify which young players are going to be part of the organization's long-term plan. That's what made a game like Saturday night's 3-2 victory over the Braves, in which Josiah Gray dazzled on the mound and Riley Adams delivered a momentous blast at the plate, so uplifting for anyone associated with the club. But the 2022 Nationals aren't going to be made up entirely of kids. There are going to...

Five years removed from his last appearance there in a game, and one month since he began getting early-afternoon reps there, Josh Bell is finally making his official return to the outfield. Bell, who has exclusively played first base since 2017, will start in right field this afternoon when the Nationals wrap up their weekend series against the Braves at Truist Park. It's a move that has been in the works for a while, with manager Davey Martinez hoping to find a way to get both Bell and Ryan...