That’s the reason Witt Jr. obtained the big-money contract. For moments like that and hits like that.
2. Adley Rutschman’s dangerous second half continued
On the opposite aspect of the sector, Rutschman is without doubt one of the Orioles’ core gamers, and after wanting like a possible MVP candidate initially of the season, his second half has been a relentless wrestle.
He by no means had an OPS larger than .625 in July, August or September, and he opened the playoffs on Tuesday by going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
The second of these strikeouts got here within the backside of the ninth inning with the potential tying run on first base.
Rutschman is a superb participant with an enormous profession forward of him, however this season ended up being a giant disappointment individually and now he has two video games to assist change that.
3. The Orioles missed a giant alternative
This was the sport the Orioles actually wanted on this collection. Desperately. It appears bizarre to say that a couple of crew that had probably the greatest information within the league, has home-field benefit and is the favourite, however the matchups on a game-by-game foundation usually are not fairly of their favor after this.
Their ace — Burnes — was on the mound, and it was the one pitching matchup within the collection the place they’ve a transparent benefit.
Burnes, to his credit score, was sensational.
He pitched into the ninth inning on simply 84 pitches, allowed just one run and did every little thing you need an ace to do to offer your crew an opportunity in a playoff recreation.
The one downside for the Orioles is that they had been unable to supply him any run help. It was a wasted alternative for this recreation, and now they is perhaps asking themselves if this complete season is perhaps a wasted alternative.
The second they acquired Burnes in February, it was clear this was an all-in season. Regardless of that, the Orioles didn’t actually do a lot to bolster a beginning pitching rotation that was the clear weak point on the roster because the season progressed.
Now they burned via their ace, didn’t get a win and have to enter Video games 2 and three needing to win each and going through a large pitching drawback with their season on the road.
4. The Royals have to be ok with their state of affairs
The Royals made a giant funding of their beginning rotation this offseason, signing free-agent starters Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. They had been an enormous a part of the crew’s turnaround this season and their two greatest pitchers.
Now they’ve each of them going with an opportunity to upset and knock out an Orioles crew that spent many of the season as one of many prime favorites within the American League.
They beat Baltimore’s ace in Sport 1, and now have a large beginning pitching edge for Video games 2 and three.
It’s laborious to think about a greater state of affairs for a crew within the wild-card spherical.