Author Archives: Domenic Vadala

Welcome to Birdland Crush! Yes folks, for the record it's a spin off of the popular summer beverage native to the Mid-Atlantic Region - "orange crush." Nevertheless, I've been covering Orioles' baseball since 2009 in some capacity, and it's basically the greatest gig of all time so far as I'm concerned! But for those who aren't familiar with my work or bio, I'm familiar with pretty much every sport out there. But baseball is king - we all know that. So my hope is that you come back and check in after every Orioles' game, and throughout the off-season. I'm always on duty!

Baltimore Orioles: 2025 Season in Review

For the first time in their history, the Baltimore Orioles began the season north of the border in 2025. They played a four-game set in Toronto, splitting the series. But they did it in grandiose fashion, defeating Toronto 12-2 on Opening Day.

However the harbinger for the season dates back to 2024, that being injuries. The Orioles lost Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, and Tyler Wells in 2024, with Bradish and Wells returning at the tail end of 2025. On top of that, they lost Gunnar Henderson in the first week of spring training (through the first week of the regular season), and Colton Cowser over the opening weekend.

As the season was in its infancy, it was evident that something wasn’t clicking. And injuries piled up. Jordan Westburg ended up on the IL over time, as did Ryan Mountcastle. Down the stretch, Adley Rutschman even hit the injured list. And the players who were on the field weren’t producing.

Things came to a head after a blown save in May against Washington at home. GM Mike Elias called a press conference, and announced the next day that he had relieved manager Brandon Hyde of his duties. Tony Mansolino would be the interim manager for the rest of the season.

Things improved under Mansolino, and injured players started to return. However even wins were a struggle. The O’s had to settle for at times winning one of three in a series, with that one being a struggle. And at times it didn’t make sense. The games they would lose were very much against the run of play. But wins are wins, and losses are losses.

The Orioles made a few trades at the deadline, including their lone all-star, Ryan O’Hearn. Sadly, these were necessary moves. You may as well get something for a guy as opposed to getting nothing. The likes of Bradish and Wells would return late in the season, but the O’s also lost the likes of Ryan Mountcastle down the stretch, among others.

Part of the story of this season was that the right hand never seemed to compliment the left hand. In games where they scored runs, the pitching dumped out. And on nights when they pitched well, the bats fell silent. This year will be remembered for the injuries first and foremost. But never being able to put it all together was as much a problem as anything else.

There were some bright spots, however. Trevor Rogers worked his way into being the MVO, leading the pitching staff in a down year. The Orioles also called up Dylan Beavers and Samuel Basallo towards the end of the season. And the boys made an immediate impact. Basallo was also given an eight-year contract, four games into his tenure.

End of the day, they finished with 75 wins. You have to hope that playing this back next year, presumably under different leadership, maybe things are different. In 2025 just about everything went against them – things within their control, and outside of it. Maybe in the future, some of those things break the other way.

Baltimore Orioles: The End

Some fans are probably happy that the Baltimore Orioles’ season is over. But for the vast majority the end of baseball season is always somewhat sad and reflective. If for no other reason than it means cold temperatures will eventually be setting in. Kyle Bradish got the start this afternoon at Yankee Stadium in the season finale. Bradish’s line: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K.

Bradish surrendered a solo home run to Rice in the first inning, but allowed no further damage. However back-to-back home runs in the fourth gave the Orioles the lead. Jordan Westburg got the party started, and his solo homer was followed by one from Gunnar Henderson.

However the O’s did have a lead in this game. That is until Stanton’s RBI-single in the home half of the frame tied it back up at two. And the game would be knotted at two for almost the rest of the way. However Rice’s solo shot in the eighth ended up putting New York over the top, and they won 3-2 over the O’s to close the season.

The big question in the air for the Orioles now is where do they go from here. One thing we know indubitably for sure; Tony Mansolino has managed his final game as interim manager. He’ll either be offered the full time job, or the Orioles will hire someone else. Either way, today was his last day with that interim tag.

I maintain that if Mike Elias was going to extend Mansolino, he would have already done so. So my prediction is a new guy will man the dugout next year. One way or the other, odds are it won’t be announced during the MLB postseason. Teams tend to lay low during that time.

Make no mistake, the 2026 Orioles are not a tear down and rebuild. This is a team that was done in by injuries before the season even started. I would submit that it started going awry when Grayson Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, and Tyler Wells went down last season. On top of that, Gunnar Henderson went down in spring training, stunting his early season. Not to mention Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg, and others.

Point being, this season was doomed in advance. However that also means that IF the O’s don’t suffer that same fate in 2026, things could be different. I maintain that they need an experienced manager who’s been around the block. Someone who isn’t freaked out by analytics, but also one who isn’t bound to them. Someone who manages more by the book as opposed to by the computer.

There’s an entire off season to discuss this. But one way or the other, hope will spring eternal in a few very short months. Before you know it, pitchers and catchers will be reporting. And everything is renewed.

Baltimore Orioles: You can’t nibble

The Baltimore Orioles should listen to former Hall of Fane manager Earl Weaver more often. Weaver preached attacking the strike zone. Starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano didn’t do it today at Yankee Stadium. Sugano’s line: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

Sugano gave up a solo homer to Judge in the first, and then one to Stanton in the second. McMahon followed with a solo shot of his own later in the inning. And the O’s trailed 3-0 early on.

Many of those pitches (not all) were on the fringes of the strike zone. That’s very consistent with what we’ve seen all year. Earlier in the season there were times where it appeared the Orioles were not only nibbling like this in the zone, but were also tipping pitches. Dangerous combination.

And I say that because home runs were being hit on pitches that shouldn’t be winding up in the stands (based on their location) – unless the hitter knew where it was coming in. Or guessing right. But when you don’t attack the strike zone, you play not to lose. In football they call it the “prevent defense.”

The reason for nibbling as opposed to attacking the strike zone of course is understandable. The likes of Judge and Stanton are imposing. But wouldn’t you rather they beat you than you beating yourself?

The other thing that happens when you nibble is that you lose the benefit of the doubt. New York loaded the bases in the fifth before Judge smacked an RBI-single. The pitch to Judge, in fairness, was right down the pike. But many of the pitches which led to the bases being full were borderline. Many were in the strike zone. And they were called balls.

Bellinger added a sac fly-RBI before the inning ended. Coby Mayo would add a solo homer to get the Orioles on the board in the eighth. But the Birds fell, 6-1 in the Bronx.

I’m sure there’s some analytical statistic out there saying that if you live on the fringes of the strike zone you have a better probability of winning. And I’m not suggesting that every pitch needs to be in the strike zone. Not under any circumstances. However again, traditional managers all say you have to attack the zone. The Orioles haven’t used that mantra as a modus operandi in some time. That should be a goal going into 2026, lest they want to watch home run after home run fly over their outfielder’s heads. Their outfielders who incidentally are positioned too deep to stop soft contact – which invariably seems to occur.

The series and the season concludes tomorrow at Yankee Stadium. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Luis Gil. Game time is set for just after 3 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: A struggle for Trevor Rogers in the end

Trevor Rogers has had quite a season for the Baltimore Orioles. He rightfully was given the MVO award this week, and has been a stabilizing force on the staff and in the clubhouse. Unfortunately he struggled in his final start last night at Yankee Stadium, making that his lasting impression of 2025. Rogers’ line: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 3 K.

After issuing a first inning walk, Rogers gave up a two-run homer to Stanton in the first inning. However the O’s did briefly have the lead. Jordan Westburg uncorked a three-run home run in the top of the third, and suddenly the Orioles led 3-2.

But it didn’t last long. Judge hit a second New York two-run homer in the last of the third, and they retook the lead at 4-3. Stanton added a second later in the inning, ballooning it to 6-3. Many of these home runs came following walks and with two strikes. Dylan Beavers was also replaced in the lineup after his fourth inning at-bat after fouling a ball off his shin. X-Rays were negative.

Tyler O’Neill attempted to bring the O’s closer. His solo homer in the sixth cut the lead to 6-4. However New York would tack on two additional runs as insurance, and the Birds fell 8-4 in the Bronx. For Rogers, not the way he wanted to end the season. But it does little to dim the light he represented this year.

The series continues this afternoon at Yankee Stsdium. Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Cam Schlittler. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Drama at the end

Tyler Wells got the start for the Baltimore Orioles tonight against Tampa. Not the greatest start on planet earth, albeit in a game played under the constant threat of rain. Wells’ line: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K.

Wells surrendered an RBI-double to Lowe in the first inning. An inning later Feduccia added a second RBI-double, and Lowe a solo homer I. The third.

On the flip side, the O’s didn’t get a hit until the seventh inning. But by that time Tampa had extended its lead to 6-0. The O’s did get on the board with a two-RBI single in the eighth. But they fell, 6-2 in the final night game of the season at Camden Yards.

Samuel Basallo was hit during last night’s game. The Orioles also hit Caminero later in the game. My personal opinion was that wasn’t intentional – in both cases. Guys get hit all the time in baseball. Camiero’s body language at the time however indicated that he thought it was purposeful.

Nevertheless Basallo led off against Tampa reliever Pete Fairbanks in the last of the ninth tonight. On an 0-2 count, he was hit in the hand with a 97 MPM fastball. He winced in pain and immediately moved towards the clubhouse. Coby Mayo pinch ran in his place.

After recording the final out, Fairbanks proceeded to blow a kiss towards the Orioles’ dugout while staring them down. Fairbanks may have had some plausible deniability on the intent of the pitch before that. However that sort of petty bush league gesture removed that.

The whole thing seems like it didn’t need to happen. Granted nobody knows what was said or what might have been said earlier in the season. But without admitting to the league that he threw at Basallo intentionally, Fairbanks publicly admitted he threw at Basallo intentionally. The league should take note of that. Especially given that Basallo is a top prospect.

Baseball’s a stoic game. It’s not the NFL or NBA where taunting is all but expected. It’s seen as childish, especially in this context. Again, Fairbanks lost plausible deniability with that act. The league should taken notice.

The series concludes tomorrow afternoon at Camden Yards. Cade Povich gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Drew Rasmussen. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Dean Kremer strong in final start

If the Baltimore Orioles’ rotation stays on schedule, Dean Kremer made his final start of the year last night against Tampa at Camden Yards. Perhaps fittingly, it was a start that was delayed an hour and eleven minutes by rain before it even started. But needless to say, Kremer finished strong once he took to the mound. Kremer’s line: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.

When Kremer left the game he did so to a standing ovation from the fans. He’s a guy who’s chiefly important to this rotation next year. And while he did have his struggles at times this year, he quietly had a very strong season.

He had the lead early, as the O’s manufactured two runs in the first inning. Gunnar Henderson’s sac fly-RBI and Tyler O’Neill’s RBI-groundout gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead. Henderson came up again in the third and added on an RBI-single to extend it to 3-0.

Kremer, for his part, was crisp all night. He also pitched-to-contact, which is all but the opposite of what Oriole pitchers did over the weekend against New York. And the results speak for themselves. In both instances.

Jordan Westburg would tack on a sac fly-RBI in the fifth to extend the lead further. And Colton Cowser put the exclamation point on in the sixth with a two-run home run. The Oriole bullpen was virtually as strong as Kremer, and the Birds went home 6-0 winners in the first game with Tampa, the last home series of the year.

The series continues this evening at Camden Yards. Tyler Wells gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by Tampa’s Shane Baz. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Fundamentals cannot overpower analytics

The Baltimore Orioles and Tomoyuki Sugano lost tonight’s game almost before it started. The Orioles have been caught in this tug-of-war between sound baseball and analytics all season, and it reared its ugly head tonight. It’s fair to point out that the game was meaningless for the O’s, but needless to say it’s still a regular season game. Sugano’s line: 3.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 3 K.

Sugano allowed two base runners with two outs in the first inning; one was Judge on a seeing-eye single. The other was Bellinger on a softly-hit bloop single. Stanton followed with a three-run homer, and the Orioles trailed 3-0.

The seeing-eye single…that happens. Those sorts of things have happened to the Orioles a lot this year, but you can’t really defend against them – per se. I’ll come back to that. However as I’ve said all year, you can’t play your outfield as deep as the Orioles have all year, everything else be damned. They persistently play a no doubles defense; and I get it…you want to prevent an extra-base hit. But you’re surrendering those bloop hits that are dropping in because the outfielders are deeper.

And that’s been a HUGE problem for this team all year. I have no doubt that the probability of scoring a run goes way up after an extra-base hit. But when you’re allowing fluky things to grant the opposition base runners, I suspect the probability is even greater. Playing no doubles defense up two runs in the ninth inning may be one thing. But it shouldn’t be the norm.

Judge would tack on a fourth inning solo homer, and RBI-singles in the fifth and sixth by Chisholm and Grisham in the fifth and sixth. Coby Mayo would get the Birds on the board in the seventh with an RBI-double. This in a losing effort as New York took this one, 6-1.

I mention fluky plays above. Seeing-eye singles fall into that category. YES, sometimes they just happen. But all season, the Orioles have nibbled on the corners of the zone. They’ve never felt comfortable attacking the strike zone. Granted, their rotation has mainly been on the IL – and in some instances still is. But they’ve been relentless in their approach of not throwing the ball over the plate as much.

When you relentlessly nibble, you leave yourself vulnerable to a few things. First off, umpires don’t really seem to appreciate it. They recognize that a team is trying to fool people, including them. So if it’s borderline, the umpire is probably inclined to give the hitter the benefit of the doubt. How often have we seen that this year?

Secondly however, opponents aren’t stupid; they can see what you’re trying to do. They’ll either take the walk eventually, OR if they do make contact something strange could happen. The first inning Judge bleeder was in the strike zone, but in the lower in quadrant. Judge found a way to get to it, put it in play, and something fluky occurred.

The subsequent Bellinger bloop single was low and well out of the strike zone. It was challenging for Bellinger to get to it, but he did. And it induced soft contact. And with the Oriole outfield so far back, they had no chance. All that with two outs.

To be fair, the Orioles have been nibblers going back years. Remember the 2015 ALCS against Kansas City? That was lost on solid pitching by KC, but also timely bloop hits and broken bat singles. Are those things fluky? Absolutely. Can you induce fluky things? Now there’s a question.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Kyle Bradish gets the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Cam Schlittler. Game time is set for just after 1:30 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Trevor Rogers out-gems New York

Trevor Rogers further cemented himself as the Baltimore Orioles most consistent pitcher this season. In potentially his final start at home in 2026, Rogers silenced a Bronx Bomber lineup that was on fire last night. Rogers’ line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K.

The O’s got on the board early and took charge of the scoreboard. Ryan Mountcastle smacked a solo home run in the second. The Orioles led 1-0, but knew that wouldn’t be enough.

After a New York error, the O’s had two runners on in the sixth. Ryan Mountcastle’s sacrifice fly drove home a second run. Samuel Basallo later grounded into a force out which scored a run, and ran the score to 3-0.

However New York’s Chisholm came up with a runner on in the 8th, and he smacked a two-run homer. That tightened things up, and it left the O’s with no leeway or insurance. That remained the case until Gunnar Henderson’s RBI-double extended the lead in the eighth. Keegan Akin closed the game in the ninth, giving the Birds a 4-2 win.

The series continues tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Carlos Rondon. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles blanked in opener with New York

The Baltimore Orioles find themselves in the unfortunate spot of playing out a string against teams in their own division who are in contention. Cade Povich got the start against New York tonight, in the first game of the final homestand of the season. Povich’s line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 5 K.

Povich allowed two base runners to lead off the game, both of whom scored on Rosario’s two-RBI double. In the fifth Wells extended the lead to 3-0 with an RBI-single. The thing about that play? Yet another run on soft contact. Oriole opponents have had that knack all year.

New York broke the game wide open in the seventh. Goldschmidt’s RBI-single expanded the lead to 4-0. Judge would later add a sac fly-RBI, and Stanton a two-RBI double. The O’s were unable to muster much against New York and their starter, Fried. And they fell on this night at Camden Yards, 7-0.

The series continues tomorrow night at Camden Yards. Trevor Rogers gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by New York’s Will Warren. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

Baltimore Orioles: Holding on for dear life

Dean Kremer had a rough beginning in Chicago last night for the Baltimore Orioles. A rough beginning. He quickly stabilized and qualified for the win. Kremer’s line: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K.

Those two runs constituted the rough beginning. He surrendered a two-run home run to Teel in the first inning. But he quickly righted the ship. And the Birds evened things up in the third on an RBI-double by Jeremiah Jackson, and an RBI-single by Gunnar Henderson.

The O’s took the lead an inning later. Samuel Basallo’s two-run homer put them ahead 4-2. And the O’s added on from there. Gunnar Henderson, who had a productive day, smacked an RBI-single in the fifth. He later scored on Dylan Beavers’ RBI-triple.

Dylan Beavers gave the O’s some insurance in the seventh with a two-run homer. They were up 6-2 at the time. That home run ran it to 8-2. And they needed every one of those eight runs.

Reliever Chayce McDermott surrendered a run in the eighth on a wild pitch. Later in the inning Sosa’s two-RBI single cut the Orioles’ lead to 8-5. Tack on a two-run homer by Benintendi, and suddenly that big lead was down to one at 8-7.

Suddenly that Beavers two-run homer loomed large. Chicago put the tying run at the plate in the last of the ninth, but Keegan Akin got a big strikeout with two down, ending the game. It was closer than it needed to be in the end, But it’s a win.

The series concludes this afternoon at Rate Field, Tyler Wells gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Chicago’s Martin Perez. Game time is set for just after 2 PM.