Steve Melewski

2 months ago | baltimorebaseball.com | Steve Melewski

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ARTICLE For the National Hockey League, the 4 Nations Face-Off was a huge hit. People were talking about hockey, casual fans were watching games and television ratings for the USA versus Canada games were outstanding. The tournament – featuring NHL players on teams from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden – replaced the NHL All-Star weekend. Could baseball hold a similar event around the time of the All-Star Game? Yes, but it might be hard to pull that off.

2 months ago | baltimorebaseball.com | Steve Melewski

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ARTICLE As he gets ready to pitch the Orioles’ spring training opener today, it takes some jogging of the memory to recall that this time last year right-hander Albert Suárez was an unknown non-roster pitcher. He was a long shot to make the O’s roster and had not even pitched in the big leagues since throwing 31 2/3 innings for the 2017 San Francisco Giants. He had spent most of the time since then pitching in Japan and Korea.

2 months ago | baltimorebaseball.com | Steve Melewski

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ARTICLE This just in Birdland – the Orioles are a good team. They’ve had  three straight winning seasons and back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time since 1996 and 1997. Should they make the playoffs this year, it will be just the second time in Baltimore Orioles history. The first was when they won 109 games in 1969, 108 in 1970 and 101 in 1971. That was the greatest run of winning ever for the Orioles’ franchise. The 2025 club could make it twice in club history.

2 months ago | baltimorebaseball.com | Steve Melewski

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ARTICLE Mike Elias and his staff conducted their first MLB draft with the Orioles during the 2019 season, the year they selected catcher Adley Rutschman No. 1/1 – the first pick in the first round. But they didn’t draft a pitcher until the eighth round. In 2020 and 2021 they didn’t draft a pitcher until round five. In 2022, their first pitcher taken was in round three, followed by round two in 2023 and round four last year.

2 months ago | baltimorebaseball.com | Steve Melewski

SCROLL DOWN TO READ ARTICLE As the Orioles go into the 2025 season without last year’s ace pitcher, Corbin Burnes, they are hoping that right-hander Zach Eflin can match his performance over the last two seasons. If he can, the O’s might have an ace-light or a pitcher who is a solid No. 2. Eflin’s stats are close to what Burnes produced over the combined 2023-2024 seasons. When it comes to fWAR, Eflin is ranked above Burnes for that two-year span.