Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The Orioles are back in Baltimore tonight after a surprisingly successful west coast road trip, and it’s going to be a big weekend at Camden Yards. The O’s are hosting the defending champion Dodgers, who are making their first trip to Baltimore since 2023, when L.A. took two out of three.
It also marks Shohei Ohtani’s first visit to Oriole Park since he played for the Angels two years ago. The two-way sensation is not expected to pitch in this series, but there’s sure
to be a sizable contingent of fans on hand to watch him mash some dingers. Because, let’s be honest, he’s going to hit multiple dingers in this series. What, like Orioles pitchers will get him out? Please.
Saturday will be an especially big night at Camden Yards as the O’s are planning a star-studded celebration to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Cal Ripken’s record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game. (It’s also the day that O’s reliever Shawn Dubin was born. He must be flattered that the Orioles are making such a big deal for his birthday.) Expect one of the biggest crowds of the season that night, and hopefully the O’s won’t follow up the festivities with a terrible performance, as they’ve tended to do at their most well-attended games this year.
The Orioles just helped the Dodgers tremendously in the NL West race by sweeping their nearest competition, the Padres. Can they shift the balance of power again by knocking the Dodgers down a peg? More importantly, can the O’s continue to build on the competence they displayed in San Diego, and help us feel just a tiny bit better about this team’s direction going into 2026?
Links
McDonald, Mansolino and Wagner weigh in on Ripken’s record-breaking streak – School of Roch
Cal’s 2,131 game is the kind of thing where you remember exactly where you were when it happened. Except for those of you who weren’t born yet, in which case, get off my lawn, you young whippersnappers.
Young O’s bring their irons and hit the links with the Iron Man – MLB.com
Three such whippersnappers, who happen to be star Orioles players, got to have a round of golf with Cal recently. Fortunately these guys know their baseball history and understand just how cool that experience was.
Should Orioles keep Adley Rutschman for 2026? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Imagine reading this headline in 2023? It’s hard to believe we’ve gotten to a point where it’s debatable whether Adley even makes the Orioles a better team.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Three former Orioles were born on this day: right-handers Calvin Maduro (51) and Jimmy Haynes (53) and catcher Tom Patton, who turns 90 years young. An extra happy birthday to Tom. Patton’s MLB career consisted of a single game for the Orioles in 1957. That’s one more game than you or I will ever get, so good for him.
On this date 30 years ago, Cal Ripken Jr. moved alongside the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig, into baseball immortality by playing his 2,130th consecutive game to tie Gehrig’s record. With a sellout crowd of 46,804 at Camden Yards cheering his every move, Cal crushed a sixth-inning homer to lead a six-homer, 8-0 shutout of the Angels. With that, Cal was on the doorstep of baseball history, which he achieved the following night with game number 2,131. You might have heard of it.
Random Orioles game of the day
On Sept. 5, 1982, the scorching-hot Orioles racked up their eighth straight win, and 15th in their last 16 games, with a 5-4 comeback victory over the Twins at Memorial Stadium. Trailing 4-2 in the sixth, the O’s strung together six consecutive baserunners — all with two outs — and tied the game on Ken Singleton’s two-run triple before an error by Twins third baseman Gary Gaetti gave the Birds a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The win continued the Orioles’ second-half surge that saw them tie for the AL East lead until losing the final game of the season to the Brewers.
