Saturday Bird Droppings: Hoping the rain goes away in Boston

Apr 1, 2023 - 1:00 PM

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Good morning, Birdland!

We will might have Orioles baseball back in our lives today after the annual headache that is the built-in rain date for Opening Day. It is seemingly a logistic necessity, but it does feel like MLB’s execution of it could use some work.

For example, every single team played on Thursday. That was great! We had baseball to watch for 12 hours straight from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. It got the juices flowing and my personal excitement for Orioles baseball was sky high. The 10-9 win over the Red Sox made it even better!

But that was dampened by a sparse and dense game docket on Friday. I had gone looking for which game would serve as background noise as I did a few afternoon tasks to wrap up the workweek. My Orioles were off, but surely there had to be something to see on the first Friday of a new season, right?

Nope, nothing. Not until 6:40 anyway, then 8, and then three 10 p.m. first pitches. The league had five games but none during the day and all of them stepping on each other in the evening.

Perhaps the league has done some analysis to make this set-up make sense. But it just seems odd to ramp everyone up for baseball on Thursday and then entirely leave them hanging at the start of the weekend. This is the week where diehards and casuals alike are both very much into the sport. Capture that excitement. Give people a reason to skip work or school.

The league could take advantage of stadiums that are highly unlikely to experience an Opening Day cancellation: those with roofs! Tampa, Texas, Miami, Houston, and Seattle all have roofs and hosted on Thursday. Their games were not gonna get called. Schedule them whenever you want for Friday too! Or do Opening Day on a Wednesday, then give half the teams off on Thursday, half off on Friday, everyone plays Saturday and Sunday.

Fortunately, we do have a full slate of games today, so my ideas can go back in the can for the next 365 days. The Birds are supposed to play the Red Sox at 4:10 today, but there is rain in the Boston area this afternoon, so we will see if there’s a delay or even a postponement. April baseball, baby!

Links

For O’s on first opening day roster, being together was the best part | The Baltimore Sun
These guys all love and care about each, and they are best friends. Sign all of them to 10-year contracts immediately, Mike Elias!

Could rain force Orioles to rearrange how rotation aligns for early series? | Roch Kubatko
Springtime baseball is tough in the northern states, and it seems like the Orioles get rained out at Fenway in the first month of the season at least once every year. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again today, but there is a chance for precipitation all day long, and I would prefer a rainout to someone getting hurt.

Does Rutschman’s big game lead to a big year? | Steve Melewski
As long as he is healthy, Adley Rutschman is going to be the game’s best catcher for the next 5 years, at least. He just does everything so well! Except for trying to take the extra base. He was bad at that on Thursday.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Keegan Akin is 28 today. The lefty has spent time on the Orioles’ big league roster for four straight seasons, making his debut in 2020. Once viewed as backend starter, Akin has settled in as a middle relief pitcher that’s capable of going multiple innings when needed.
• Rich Amaral turns 61. The utilityman wrapped up his decade in the big leagues as a backup with the Orioles in 1999 and 2000.
• Mike Kinnunen celebrates his 65th. Between 1986 and ‘87, he appeared in 27 games out of the O’s bullpen.

This day in O’s history

2010 - The Orioles acquire infielder Julio Lugo from the St. Louis Cardinals.