Orioles Opening Week Recap + Rangers Series Preview - Ep. 7

In today's episode, Tyler and Clay discuss the Orioles' opening week series victory over the Minnesota Twins, and dive into the upcoming series vs the Texas Rangers. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Yo, yo, yo, what is going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome back to Orioles Theory, your number one one-stop shop for all things Baltimore Orioles related. I'm Tyler Bar Brushwin with me is my good buddy and co-host Clay Salgen. We have a lot to talk about in today's episode. Gonna try and keep it quick though, but we're gonna dive into opening week against the Minnesota Twins, how the Orioles were ultimately successful in that series. And now they're two and one, and all and they're in the win column for the season. It's always great to, you know, win that first series of the year. Then we're gonna dive into a preview against the Texas Rangers just a little bit tonight. They're they face Jack Leader. So we're gonna go into that stuff there. But before we dive into that baseball stuff, let me give a quick shout out to our sponsor, O Squared Residential Design. Look, we know what it takes to build a winning team, and O Squared knows what it takes to build winning spaces for a woman-owned, family operated company right here in the state of Maryland, specializing in kitchen and bathroom renovations. Whether you're looking to restore, replace, or completely remodel, they deliver excellence in every square inch. Serving homeowners across the state of Maryland. Check them out at osquaresign.com. That's osquaredesign.com. Kalay, two and one. You cannot complain. Last year, the Orioles did not win a series, I believe, for the first five. So what was it like just seeing, you know, some success this year, not tying a series, not losing a series, but actually coming back down for nothing, ultimately winning eight to six, winning that series and building some momentum. What was it like, Clay?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

So, you know, it was something that I said to my brother last night. That game last night, the Orioles just don't win last year. That's just a game they get down four-nothing and they just aren't coming back. I just I don't see that being, I mean, that's one of those, you know, you break down, that's just one of the that's one of the 50, you know, one of the 54. You get 54 wins, 54 losses, and 54 is what you do with the rest that'll decide if you make the playoffs or not. And you know, that was one of the 54 that they won, and and that was a questionable win. So it was it was gritty, it was nail biting. You know, the everybody in the lineup got a hit yesterday, um, except Ryan Malcastle and Leody Taveras didn't get in that bad, but they're finally hitting. They're finally hitting.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

So what do you think? You know, I love that uh breakdown that that you had. It's like you know you're gonna always win 54 games, but even if you're a bad team, you know you're always gonna lose 54 games. What you make of it of the other 54 is what dictates whether or not you're a bad, good, or great baseball team. And the Orioles winning that one yesterday kind of shows, all right, guys, we're not a bad baseball team like you were last year. We're either good or we're either great. And uh, we're gonna try and show people that we are great. Um, a very, very fun win, nonetheless, Clay. Yeah, the offense definitely got off to a slow start here in 2026, but they've kind of been they they were on a heater yes to yes yesterday. That's that's all I gotta say. Got a graphic here. Their 12 hits yesterday in game three were more than the 10 hits that they had in games one and two. Their OPS almost doubled in game three compared to games one and two. They struck out significantly less, I believe. In game two, the one that they lost, you know, I want to say struck out 16 times. That's unreal stuff.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

You can't strike out 16 times and nine times the Taj Bradley in less than five innings.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Yeah, right. It's like, come on, the you guys are better than this, right? And and and 17 guys left on base two in games one and two, inexcusable, but only six left on base in game three. They doubled the amount of extra base hits that they got in game three, um, or that they got in games one and two in game three. Games one and two, they only have two extra base hits. Game three, they had four. And they the one that I love about this team right now is that they're walking, they're getting on base. I mean, Kobe Mayo, Adley Rutchman, like these are guys that have been very patient, and and and they're getting on base. Doesn't really matter how they do it, they're just getting on base. That's what I love so far. Terra Taylor Ward, three walks, um, Allie Rutschman, two walks, Samuel Bisayo, two walks, Kobe Mayo, two walks, Tyler O'Neill, two walks, Pete Alonzo, two walks, Gunnar Henderson, one walk. The O's are patient, and I really, really like this approach from them because the more base runners you manufacture, the more opportunities you'll have to drive in runs with Tyler O'Neal, with Pete Alonzo, with Dylan Beavers, you know, with Samuel Basayo, the people that we expect to be the main driver of runs, you getting on base and you drawing walks down to that. Clay, your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Yeah, I mean, it's like I tweeted out this weekend, and what we've talked about multiple times now, you know, you gotta work counts, you gotta do that kind of stuff to win games.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

When when you know, even though Saturday the Orioles lost and it was a shitty game, my take from it was even though they struck out nine times, they also got Taj Bradley out of the game before the end of the fifth inning. Taj Bradley didn't complete five. Look at yesterday's game, they're working counts. You got five walks. He walked five times and struck out five times. That's a recipe for success. You have to work counts. You look at open the opening day game, look at Kobe Mayo. He had a 10-pitch at bat. All of a sudden, that got Joe Ryan 10 pitches more and quickly out of the game. And as soon as we got him out of the game, that's when we struck. So, you know, it it's important that even when even when we're getting outs, even when we're slumping, you just keep working counts. You know, find a way to win. You found a way on Thursday, you found a way the bats weren't going, got five hits, but hey, you worked bat at bats. You know, Sammy Bisayo went first to third on a slow roller into center field. No one expected. No, it you know, it's the little things that you win, and even in a three-game sample size, you know, Albi's got these guys doing things that we haven't seen in seven years. So I'm impressed. Albi made some ballsy decisions Saturday, all those double switches and stuff like that. I mean, it was I it was exciting to see. It was exciting to see. And then even yesterday, you know, going Yenir Kano, Rico Garcia coming in, getting out of the basis loaded jam. I mean, you know, he's pulling the right strings, except for Yaramil Geraldo.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

So yeah, you know, the the I will touch on Albi because you brought it up real quick. I mean, the way that he managed that game yesterday was like it was in game seven of the ALDS. Like he wanted that win. That's what I love is that he doesn't care if he's gonna burn his whole bullpen. He knows that he has a game tomorrow. But after Shane Baas pitched, he went to Wolfram Geraldo, Garcia Wells, Cano Helsley, six different pitchers now. Two of them threw under 10 pitches. So I expect to see Cano and Garcia today, along with um uh Nunez, who look fantastic, by the way. Um, very, very good. But that's what I love about Albi is that he's treating game three like it's game 159. Like that's the type of coach that I want. And you're kind of seeing a little bit of this guards ball being played, you know, being aggressive on the base base paths, uh going from first to third. They do that a lot, but just small ball, you know, like running, uh trying just to make contact, just running on it as fast as you can, stealing bases with Kobe Mayo. Like, even though the the the base stealing hasn't been necessarily that effective so far, especially yesterday, he's still trying it. This is the type of baseball that the Orioles haven't really played in quite some time. And you saw a little bit of it last year with Tony Mansolino towards the end of the year. He he was kind of playing more of that small ball or managing a small ball type game, but you don't really see that a whole lot. So I'm happy that we're starting to get that a little bit more because I know one thing the power will come. There's gonna be a surge of power here sometime soon, and Gunner's gonna start hitting homers. Alonzo, I think, hits a homer today or tomorrow. Like, I don't think he goes another 48 hours without one. Um we're in a good spot right now, and a big reason as to why I think we're also in a great spot is because of how good Allie Rutschman has looked so far, and that's the one else that I really want to talk about, real quick. Allie Rutschman, and I know it's game three, or we're going into game four. We just finished game three, but I'm looking at his baseball savant page. I know it's only like nine plate appearances, but it's a lot of red, and I can share my screen with you guys here if you guys really want to see. But it's a lot of red, and in order to be a good baseball team, this guy has to be a good player, and you're already seeing that whiff, he's not whiffing a lot, he's patient. Look at that walk right here, he already has two walks, right? His hard hit percentage, he only has what seven at bats, but he's gone in what five out of seven tries or four out of seven tries. Allie's bat speed two with 72.1. That's the type of Adley Rutschman that that I expect to see more of. It's a lot of red. And look at the framing, too, Clay. That's like arguably the most important part. The framing. You've got to be happy with that. And I know that that that it's not as big of a deal anymore because of um abs, but still, I mean, if if you lose your challenges, you're right back at ground zero. Like, you gotta start from scratch.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

If if you look at the twins, look at the twins yesterday. As soon as I think I want to say it was Trevor Walner or or he, you know, that basis loaded strike three, he took look, and all of a sudden they lost that challenge. There was a couple calls in that eighth inning, and he even even in the bottom of the seventh that were like, all right, those are strikes that we got away with. Like, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

And Byron and Byron Buxton used his challenge too in the first inning with his first at bat on a Shane Boss cutter that he thought was high. No, it wasn't. So just like that, the entirety of that game, the twins are going with with only one challenge. And whereas Baltimore has been, you know, methodical, they've been clinical, conservative with how they use it.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

I've been pissed off with how they use it. I texted my brother before the game yesterday. I was like, I was like, Adley's too scared to be to be the mean guy and question the umpire. And then fucking basayo got back there and he's just it is like tapping his head. Yeah, yeah. No, but I mean it was it was it was awesome. And watching Derek Shelton get ejected last night, like that was dope. Just watching, just watching the crowd pop when it happens. It's like like this is good for the sport. Like, you get like I spent all offseason wondering like, is this gonna be good? Like, I hate, you know, it's kind of you know embarrassing to the umpire, but fuck that. I mean, this is awesome. Yeah, you you watch the one in Boston with CB or uh Boston Cincinnati with CB Buckner and CB Buckner. Hilarious! Like it was great, and it finally brings some sort of accountability to these guys to work on their craft and not just be you know idiots.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

Right, yeah, no, fair. Uh, one more guy that I want to talk about before we switch gears. Yeah, Shane Boz. I want to talk about his big league or his Oriol debut. Um, I'd I'd rate it a 5'5 out of 10, 5'8 out of 10. You know, he I'm only rating it like a below a six because the production, like the numbers weren't good. He gave up four runs in five innings. Like, that's not good. But he looked really good in every inning besides the second, and um that's what I'm gonna take this one with. Like, that's how I'm gonna walk away from that outing. I'm gonna go, you know what? Shane Boz looked good in all besides one inning. So I'm that's how I'm gonna take it. But the one thing is though about Boz is he really only threw three pitches in this game. Uh, 29 fastballs, 27 knuckleballs, or knuckle curves, and 19 cutters, and then he threw like a sinker once or twice. And I was honestly expecting him to throw more of that sinker, especially against a lot of the lefties that are on this team or that are on that Minnesota squad. I was expecting to see a little some some front door action, but maybe he just isn't there yet, and I'm okay with that. But ultimately, it Boz looked good. He um gonna look at at some of this stuff here. Um, he had some great movement, he had some great stuff on it. Like his four-seam fastball was a it was 108 uh pro stuff plus his curveball was 23 points higher than average uh on pro stuff plus. Um, that that that four seam curveball combo is very, very good. Very, very good.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

It's March 29th, and he was touching 98 in the first inning.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

I mean, yeah, it's let's get to fucking July.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

He's touching a 101.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Right. How much more velocity can he add? Like, how much more does he want to ramp it up? And I'm okay if he doesn't want to, but I don't know. I think Bobs can be a good pitcher, and obviously this outing wasn't his like welcome to Baltimore party that like we all expected it to be, but like he looked fine, like he outside of that second inning, you're okay, you're happy with that outing. Five innings, what like zero were in runs, four strikeouts. You're happy with that, but obviously nine pitch first inning.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

I mean, it was like I mean, you said it perfectly. It was it was a great outing outside of the second inning, and that second inning isn't gonna happen every five days or every six days, depending on what they do. You know, it's something that can be limited. All of a sudden, you cut that inning in half, all of a sudden you go six innings with two runs, and all of a sudden that's a quality start. So, you know, you're gonna have starts like these, and I'd rather them get it out of the way on March 29th than September 29th. But no doubt, you know, I I think it was a great sign the stuff looked good, and and shit like that's gonna happen. But I I have full confidence in him, and I'm happy that he signed an extension here and didn't showed a willingness to uh you know, willingness to be here and willingness that the front office is, as David Rubenstein said, open for business. Uh, as much as I don't want to believe that.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Fair enough. Well said. All right, we're gonna give one more shout out to our sponsor here, O Squared Residential Design. If your kitchen or bathroom needs a championship level makeover, these are your MVPs. Family operated excellence serving the state of Maryland. Hit them up at osquaredesign.com. That's osquaredesign.com. All right, we're gonna we're gonna shift gears now to the Rangers series. Uh, it's still at home, still at Camden Yards. First game tonight at 6 35 p.m. Uh, so if you guys are listening to this, um, there's a slight chance that the Rangers game may be going on by the time this is uploaded. Um, but those come out as minus 126 favorites. Uh, it'll be Chris Bassett making his Orioles debut against Jack Liter. Lighter was solid last year, kind of had a little breakout party. Uh 386 ERA, 10 and 10 record, 148 K's, 1.28 whip. Um, a good pitcher. Uh, 25 years old from Florida. Um, high fastball Orioles. Um, they're gonna have to attack him early because Lighter's the guy that's gonna throw a lot of first pitch strikes, a lot of first pitch fastballs. So he's gonna be ready to jump on that. And I'm really looking at Pete Alonzo here to have a to have his first home run here. Dead red, fastball, middle, middle, take it and know what to do with it. Um came at 635. It's actually on MLB TV, I believe. Um, if you wanted to watch it there. Um, and then they also have uh this is a what's what's the date?

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Today is the 30th of 30th.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Okay, so tomorrow they're on ESPN Unlimited, and then they end on MLB TV again. So obviously, if you're in Maryland, you can watch it on Mass and on cable. But Leiter versus Bassett, I'm excited to see what Bassett has in store. Uh, but yeah, I'm expecting Pete Alonso to get his first Orioles home run today against Jack Leiter. That's my one bold prediction for today, Clay.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Yeah, I mean, Jack Leiter comes from a giant baseball family. I mean, there was a reason he was uh the top pitcher to come out of his draft, and then I'm excited to watch Jack Leiter tonight and see you know how he's progressed. I mean, he had a great and second half of last year and finally started to look like the guy that you know he was expected to be. And I just I'm excited. I think like you said, Pete Alonzo should be able to jump on one tonight, and you know, the Orioles got to get these bats going, you know, and keep them going. But you know, as much as he's gonna throw first strikes, we still can't you know forget about you know working counts and getting into that bullpen because you know, as you and I talked about last week on our AL West uh recap pod, you know, their bullpen stinks.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Yeah, not very long.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Stinks. So you get past lighter, you got three wins. You get past you know the TBDs Tuesday, Wednesday. I'm sure we're gonna see DeGrom probably Tuesday or Wednesday because he got scratched. I mean, unless he's actually hurt. Um, but I think we're gonna see probably DeGrom, or we'll probably see uh, yeah, probably. So uh wouldn't surprise me. I I think that the Royals just gotta keep it going. I I think I think you're gonna get five or six good innings out of Chris Bassett, two runs you know, earned, you know, probably not gonna fool nobody, but he's also not gonna, you know, get tricked either. So right I'm excited to see him. Chris Bassett's gonna be a solid middle of the rotation guy, and I think I think the Orioles probably take two out of three in the series.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah, well said, and I mean it's it's it's not like the Rangers are a slouch either, you know. Like they they just beat the Phillies in a series in Philly on opening week. So it's like they're no they're no team to take light. There's no slouch now.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Twins were kind of a slouch, and we still took two out of three from them, but they they showed up and played baseball too.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, no, they did. I mean, they they lost uh opening day uh five five to three, but then they bounced back game two, one five four. Iovaldi was on the mound in that one. Or no, was that gore on the mound for that one?

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Last night. Last degram because de grom was supposed to pitch.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

It was Jacob Latz in game two, and then gore was on the mound last night and when they won eight three. I mean, it's like you're going up against lighter, de Grom, and maybe Kumar Rocker or uh Iavaldi again. So so you gotta be on on your A game. You do have Trevor Rogers for uh game three, which is fantastic. Um, gotten probab maybe that grudge match game because if the O's can take the one tonight, you are you're assuming you're gonna lose to Jacob deGrom tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 20:38

I mean, I don't know if DeGrom's gonna pitch tomorrow because that next sworn is shit. I mean, we both know Jacob de Grom's injury history is uh I mean lengthy. So hopefully not, but it wouldn't shock me because he was supposed to pitch Saturday. So I mean, yeah, you know, I I I hope it's not him. I would love to see tomorrow be another bullpen game for the Rangers or Kumar Rocker, and then Wednesday we see you know Valde versus you know Trevor Rogers. But I mean, Zach guy Zach Efflin tomorrow. I mean, shit. I mean, that guy can still pitch. I mean, he's the best number five starter in all baseball games world. Yeah, yeah, he's guys are opening day starter last year.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Yeah, I think Efflin is gonna have a fantastic year. Um of baseball.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

I think he's yeah, I think he's a top 10 three in all of baseball. I really do. I I love Zach Efflin. I do too. I think he's a five because of the depth that we have, but I think Zach Efflin's gonna have a hell of a year and then go, someone's gonna sign him for 20 million dollars a season after this year. So yeah, I want to enjoy this while we have it.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Yeah, you should. I think Efflin has a great game. Um, I'm really excited to see what he can do. And uh I think the one main thing with him is that he's finally fully healthy. Uh he hasn't been fully healthy, he wasn't fully healthy all last season. He was always dealing with something outside of you know, op opening day.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

And there couldn't be a better guy out there, better guy, better family. I mean, that the whole family is just an incredible. I always wish for the best for them.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

I agree. The O's today, they will open up as minus 125 favorites with Bassett on the mound against lighter. Um, over under nine and a half play. How you feeling? You you taking the over nine and a half, under nine and a half?

SPEAKER_02 22:19

I'm gonna take the under at nine and a half, and I'm gonna take the Orioles at 126 as well. I think I think the Orioles win five to three. I think I think that we say, you know, we get lighter out of the game. It'll probably be two two around the sixth, and then we'll get into their bullpen, they'll get into ours a tiny bit. Our bullpen stinks too. Let's not forget that.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

But um yeah, that's a story for another time. I want to I want to see the bullpen uh for the series, yes, before I can make an assumption.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

But that being said, uh it's not looking good. No, no, Michael Ias, you have working.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

You know, I think Nunez is just so good that he'll be that setup guy at some point. Wells, he'll probably Wells will figure it out, but Wolfram, he looks meh and Wolfram, bro. I think he'll had a very, very effy day yesterday. I think ends is okay, he's fine. You just don't really have lefties, and uh that can be a concern. But I think Nunez and Helsley are two of the best relievers we have right now. Um, and I think Rika Garcia is good, I think Kano has looked good this year. So, like I said, it's still very, very early to see you. I need at least like a five-inning sample size from each pitcher until I can make a fair assessment on where I think this bullpen is at. But anything else, Glyde, before we wrap things up?

SPEAKER_02 23:51

No, uh you know, thank you to our sponsors, thank you to our fans, and uh, you know, go O's. I think this is gonna be a very telling series, you know, even though it's the second series of the year, it's a really good ball club over there that I still have projected to make the playoffs. So yeah, it'll be exciting. Very exciting.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Well 1,000% be exciting. You can never get upset with a 2-1 series victory. Hopefully, the O's can do it again. Uh, first pitch, set for 6 35 p.m. at Oriol Park at Camden Yards. It should be a nice one. Chris Bassett on the bump for his Orioles debut, taking on Jack Later. Um, I'm I'm just pumped that I get baseball back again. I love coming home from work or from school or just making dinner, watching the O's game next to me on my computer while I'm making dinner. There is genuinely no better feeling than doing that, uh, especially when the weather's getting better. You have something to look forward to. And you know, let last year it was hard to look forward to watching this team and and making content. But now this year, I'm feeling a little bit more optimistic, especially after the day that we had yesterday. But yep, uh for first pitch for 635. Go O's. We will see you guys in the next one. Make sure to follow us on all socials at Orioles Theory on Instagram, TikTok, uh, Twitter, uh, YouTube will be up very, very shortly. So make sure to check us out there. You guys can listen to O's Theory on all platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, uh, Amazon Podcasts, Pandora, wherever you get your podcasts. We got you guys covered for the whopping price of free 99. Once again, thank you guys for tuning in for Tyler Barbarous, Clay Seljan. We will see you guys in the next one. Peace out and go O's.