Both teams unleash their aces as the first round of the 2024 postseason gets underway.
Here goes nothing.
Camden Yards will be rocking as the Orioles begin the 2024 postseason this afternoon, hosting the Royals in the best-of-three Wild Card Series. The 162-grind has led up to this. The Orioles won 91 games to earn their spot in the playoffs, but now the slate is wiped clean. They get three games to test their mettle and prove themselves worthy of advancing to the next round. Then they need to do it all over again. And so on and so on until they hoist the championship trophy for the first time since 1983.
But let’s focus on the task on hand: beating Kansas City. The Royals were one of the biggest surprises in baseball this season, rebounding from a 106-loss season a year ago to win 86 games and claim the second wild card spot. That’s a 30-game improvement, made possible by some smart offseason signings — particularly veteran righty Seth Lugo, who emerged as an out-of-nowhere Cy Young candidate — and the continued improvement of their young stars, including superstar shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and today’s starting pitcher, Cole Ragans.
Ragans’ two starts against the Orioles this year couldn’t have gone more differently. In Baltimore on April 3, he dominated with 6.1 shutout innings, striking out seven. A week later at Kauffman Stadium, the O’s blistered him for nine hits and seven runs, knocking him out in the second inning. We’re all hoping today’s outing will be more like the latter, but considering how Ragans has overpowered major league hitters for the majority of the season, that’s probably asking too much. I’d settle for the Birds stringing together some quality at-bats, scratching out a few runs, and letting the chips fall where they may.
There’s no overstating how important today’s opener is. In all eight Wild Card Series since MLB expanded to six playoff teams per league in 2022, the winner of Game 1 has gone on to win the series every time. Seven of those eight have been sweeps. So it’s essential for the Orioles to get off to a good start.
This right here is why the O’s traded for Corbin Burnes, Proven Ace. He lived up to his reputation during a phenomenal regular season, capably leading a pitching staff that suffered too many injuries to count. He’s the guy you want to have the ball in your postseason opener. If he can set the tone with a shutdown performance today, the Orioles will be feeling pretty good about their chances.
Join us, won’t you, and let’s see what happens!
Orioles lineup:
SS Gunnar Henderson
2B Jordan Westburg
RF Anthony Santander
1B Ryan Mountcastle
DH Adley Rutschman
LF Colton Cowser
3B Ramón Urías
CF Cedric Mullins
C James McCann
RHP Corbin Burnes
Royals lineup:
2B Michael Massey
SS Bobby Witt Jr.
DH Vinnie Pasquantino
C Salvador Perez
1B Yuli Gurriel
LF MJ Melendez
RF Tommy Pham
CF Kyle Isbel
3B Maikel Garcia
LHP Cole Ragans