Seven strong innings from Trevor Rogers and a packed Oriole Park at Camden Yards kicked off the 2026 campaign in grand style with a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. Luke Jones and Nestor recap a successful Opening Day in Baltimore and opine about how true quality starting pitching can take the Birds to new heights with a soft schedule and lots to recommend the squad in the early going.

Opening Day Recap and Pitching Performance

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ 2-0 win over the Twins, highlighting the strong pitching performance from Trevor Rogers.
• Nestor praises the pitching matchup, comparing it to a classic World Series game, while Luke notes the rarity of such a game in the season.
• Luke credits the Orioles for making Joe Ryan throw 85 pitches, despite the Twins’ transition mode.
• Nestor humorously suggests trading for Joe Ryan in July, while Luke acknowledges Trevor Rogers’ performance despite his four walks.

Offensive Highlights and Defensive Plays

• Luke Jones details the Orioles’ offensive performance, noting the back-to-back singles and the sack fly that led to the winning runs.
• Nestor mentions the snow cone in right field by Tyler O’Neil, which could have cost the game, while Luke criticizes Taylor Ward’s defensive play.
• Luke praises the infield defense, particularly Kobe Mayo’s plays, and notes the crisp performance overall.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of not overreacting to opening day, given the Orioles’ and other local teams’ performances last year.

Managerial Changes and Team Dynamics

• Nestor comments on the difference in energy between Brandon Hyde and Craig Albernaz, noting Albernaz’s looseness and positive vibe.
• Luke highlights Albernaz’s enthusiasm, including throwing batting practice on opening day, which contrasts with Hyde’s demeanor.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of new energy on the team, including players like Blaze Alexander and Pete Alonso.
• Nestor expresses optimism about the new energy and the potential for a better season compared to last year.

Trades and Player Development

• Nestor and Luke discuss the trade of Kyle Stowers for Trevor Rogers, noting the timing and the impact on the team.
• Luke explains the rationale behind the trade, including the potential for Rogers to become a top starter and the challenges Stowers faced.
• Nestor questions the decision to trade Stowers, given his potential, while Luke defends the trade as a strategic move.
• Luke highlights the importance of trades and non-trades, using Kobe Mayo as an example of a player who might have been traded but is now a key part of the team.

Rotation and Bullpen Strengths

• Luke praises the Orioles’ starting rotation, including Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, and Zach Eflin.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for the rotation to be one of the best in the American League, given the health and performance of the starters.
• Luke mentions the depth in the bullpen, including Rico Garcia, Dietrich Enns, and Anthony Nunez, who impressed last season.
• Nestor and Luke express confidence in the rotation’s ability to provide strong performances, which could set the team up for success.

Impact of New Rules and Technology

• Nestor and Luke discuss the new automated ball-strike system (ABS) and its impact on the game.
• Luke explains the system’s goal to correct the most egregious calls and its potential to improve relations between players and umpires.
• Nestor shares his positive view of the system, noting its potential to make every pitch interesting and reduce controversial calls.
• Luke highlights the data from spring training, showing that umpires are better at calling balls and strikes than fans might think, and the system’s role in correcting the most obvious errors.

Overall Optimism and Future Prospects

• Nestor and Luke express optimism about the Orioles’ season, with Nestor predicting a win total of 90 games.
• Luke sets a more conservative goal of 90 wins and a wild card spot, but acknowledges the potential for a strong start.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of a good start to the season, given the team’s struggles last year.
• Luke highlights the potential for the team to forget last year’s struggles if they get off to a good start, with new energy and a revamped roster.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, Opening Day, Trevor Rogers, Kyle Stowers, Kobe Mayo, Craig Albernaz, bullpen, rotation, pitching, defense, energy, new manager, fan enthusiasm, baseball trades, injury recovery.

SPEAKERS

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Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. I have not done a lot of sick radio here. I promise I can’t get you sick on YouTube or across the interwebs or even at am 1570 but if it sounds like I feel miserable, I kind of do, but the Orioles won, that made me feel better. Luke Jones is here. Opening Day is complete. You were there. The big scoreboard. The true is sweet and but, but a pitching matchup that was sort of classic, sort of like, you’d love a game five of a World Series to go like that, right? You mean, like, it was just really for you and me, who you know, sort of dig pitching and and there’s so little of it that looks like that. We won’t have a game like that all year, six innings, three hits, one hit on the other side, shut out, like, squeaking out a run, squeaking out a second run. I mean, it was in hasty baseball. Too hasty

Luke Jones  01:00

baseball, yeah. I mean, you’ll have a few over the course of the season, but that’s generally not how you think of things. And for the Orioles sake, at least give them credit that they made Joe Ryan throw 85 pitches in five and a third because they weren’t squaring up much of anything against him. I mean, he’s nasty, he’s Yeah, oh, he’s really good. That’s That’s why there were a lot of there was a lot of talk about him being traded in the offseason, because I think it’s pretty evident that the twins are in a transition mode at best.

Nestor Aparicio  01:29

Let’s trade for him in July. Let’s get

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Luke Jones  01:31

Hey, like him. He’s a guy that I mentioned once or twice, you know? I mean, there was a lot of debate whether he was actually available or not, and everything but, but he was really good, but Trevor Rogers, who, and let’s face it, I mean, this wasn’t like an overly dominant version of Trevor Rogers. I mean, he struck out five, but he walked four. His command wasn’t as sharp as he would like it. But hey, you get three double play balls with the change up, and your defense mostly plays well. And you get a you scratch a couple runs across the plate late, you’ll take it right. You have to win in a variety of ways. We talked about this so much early last year, when the Orioles were already circling the drain, where they’d have a night where they’d score runs but they didn’t pitch. They’d have a night where they’d get a good pitching performance, and they didn’t score runs, right? So Thursday was a day where they did not swing the bats very well. I mean, you think about it, it came down to back to back singles, beside taking third base on going first to third on a single lumber and and then they get a they get a sack fly from Colton kauser and blaze Alexander, you know, kind of serves one up the middle, right? I mean, good enough, right? Two runs and it held up.

Nestor Aparicio  02:46

So I thought that snow cone with Tyler O’Neil right field, Mike, you know, cost him. You know, when the ball pops out like that, you’re like, oh no. And in a nil, nil game, you’re like, oh boy, yeah.

Luke Jones  02:55

You don’t like seeing that. You don’t like how Taylor Ward played the what, what should have been a double into a triple. I mean, you know, it’s going to happen to someone who hasn’t played in that left field a whole lot, especially since they changed the dimensions last year again. So, but beyond that, I mean, the infield defense was really crisp. Kobe Mayo made a couple nice plays that was good to see. So it was a win, right? You don’t want to make too much of it. You don’t want to make opening day, a referendum, one way or the other. But as you and I talked about, leading into opening day, when you consider the Orioles last year, the Ravens last year, Maryland football last year, Maryland basketball just ending up, or winding up, one of the worst teams in the big 10, just wrapping up a couple of weeks ago. Fans needed this right? One thing that was a takeaway for me, I had a chance to check out the Netflix game the other night, Yankees and Giants and boy, the presentation was just awful, just absolutely awful. But the one thing I do remember Barry bond saying in the pre game show is no one wants to go oh for four on opening day. And when you talk about it as a team, you obviously want to go out there and get a win, especially after everything this team went through last year and all the optimism with Craig Albernaz coming out of spring training. So it was good to see that it was a good win. Trevor Rogers, hey you and I debated whether it was going to be Rogers or Bradish, or who’s the true ace, who’s going to be the number one?

Nestor Aparicio  04:24

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Well, they have a giveaway for Brad is Saturday, right, or something, right?

Luke Jones  04:27

They do. Yeah, it’s a jersey hoodie, which is kind

Nestor Aparicio  04:30

of, maybe that played into it, although it should or shouldn’t, but whatever it, you know, they are trying to

Luke Jones  04:35

sell tickets. Yeah. I mean, it might have played into it, but, I mean, they’re, they’re giving it away either way. But I think the other part of this is Trevor Rogers was great last year, right? I mean, he he was the most valuable Oriole in a year where there weren’t very many legitimate candidates,

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Nestor Aparicio  04:50

but he was terrific. Earns it, right?

Luke Jones  04:52

Yeah, he was terrific. And, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  04:55

like I said, July 4, we were all pissed about cost hours, right? That’s how fast it happens.

Luke Jones  04:59

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Absolutely. Absolutely so. And by the way, Kyle Stowers on the i L right now, unfortunately, he’s the injury bug has bitten him going back to the end of last year even, but, but Rogers, like I said, it wasn’t even the most dominant, crisp version of himself, but he just pitched. You know, he got out of jams. There was some traffic on the bases, for sure. But that change up, which didn’t get him a whole lot of swing and miss, but it did get him three ground balls for double plays, right? And good job by Kobe mayo and and Blaise Alexander, especially, two guys that they’re counting on a whole lot here right now. They handled themselves well in the field. And blaze Alexander even got the knock and was actually had a chance to talk to him a little bit after the game. Kids, really nice, really excited to be in Oreo. Like you could tell he was saying. He was even watching some of the YouTube videos of like the orange carpet in the past, because he didn’t know exactly what to expect. But all the guys, Pete Alonso, they all talked about how much they enjoyed the atmosphere. And when you get an atmosphere like that, when you have 40 plus 1000 people in the ballpark, you want to win for them, because you want them to come back. And certainly the Orioles did just enough to get that done on Thursday.

Nestor Aparicio  06:09

Look, I don’t want to pick on Brandon Hyde, but he was a dour kind of human. You know what I mean? I never saw him smile. I didn’t see him lighten up. He didn’t seem like a guy I wanted to have a beer with, or go shoot a deer with, or, like, talk baseball. I mean, I, you know, like, literally, Buck brought this looseness to it, and good managers do, I think, and I don’t know about Albernaz or where it is, and I’m not even really picking on Hyde, other than saying there’s a level of energy that you’re the fourth person that is mentioned. Blaise Alexander being a good dude, like a upbeat energy guy. Melanie Newman talked about it in the pregame. Palmer talked about it. Ben McDonald talked about it. And just in a like that, dude’s new he’s here they have some new thelonzo thing. Either he’s faking it or he’s great at faking it, and either way it’s fine. I mean, either way it works, and or he’s just really, I should, I’m sick as a dog, dude, but just trying to concentrate. But having good people around the team and having that kind of vibe thing happen for them. Not that Cedric Mullins wasn’t that, or, you know, any of the other guys they’ve had, but there is something about new and fresh for the manager for a bunch of the players, even Rogers and Bradish weren’t a part of this baseball team in July 4 of last year, right? So there is, you know, last year is not this year. And I’m not in any way. I am bullish on how the team could play, how they can be, but I think even more so that there is a new energy. And you know, part of that’s the scoreboard of the state, you know, like all that on opening day that you get. But it didn’t feel that way before. It felt a little not stale. It felt like they were redoing the three games they lost again and against the Rangers, they’re redoing, you know, their their postseason failures. This is a whole different it’s a different lineup. It’s a different team. I would hope that rushman can find himself a little bit we talked so much about that, that there could be some energy there for him. But, you know, I like the energy of all of it on opening day. I thought it was

Luke Jones  08:23

great, yeah, and again. I mean, Hope springs eternal this time of year, right? I mean, even the worst teams in the league. I mean, heck, look at the history of the Orioles. In the time you and I have known each other, they’ve usually been pretty good on opening day, even in years where they end up doing nothing of consequence, even in years where they’re terrible. So I know

Nestor Aparicio  08:42

you weren’t watching Mason on Thursday afternoon, but I thought maybe they would have a pregame show at noon, because, you know, they do have a network, and it’s the only freaking thing they do. Yeah, but they were showing last year’s opening day from Toronto Sunday. I put it on. It was the fifth inning of the Toronto game, and Richmond’s got two, and Tyler O’Neal is going to hit two, and they get five hits and and they’re up 14 to two. And I remember leaving in the seventh inning, going to get some sushi, and you were at the ballpark, and I’m like, it was a year ago, you know? But, um, but seeing even the players, it’s such a different mix of humans.

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Luke Jones  09:17

Yeah, it really is. I mean, I was stunned by this, but when they put out their opening day roster on Wednesday afternoon, they had the note, you know, and when, when they put out that press release, they’ll say, okay, here are the guys that are going to be playing on in their first opening day. Here are the rookies like that, you know, they have the little factoids that go with the roster. And the thing that really kind of floored me, but then I started thinking about it, this opening day roster featured only six guys who were part of last year’s opening day roster. Now, Gunner Henderson was on the Il. Bradish was on the Il. Trevor Rogers was hurt and ticketed to triple A anyway, right?

Nestor Aparicio  09:57

One just on the i L. Bradish was not even a part of, I mean, like. Right, right? He wasn’t, yeah, I mean, but he was the hugest question mark ever, like Batista is right now, right,

Luke Jones  10:04

of course, but, but the point is, it was a wild like, and you were just saying this, it was a wildly different club. And, yeah, the young core, right? They were there, but it is much different when you kind of look around the young core now. And obviously, you know, I mean Westberg and holiday, or on the IL although I think holiday is going to be back by the next road trip. I mean, he’s starting his, he’s starting his rehab assignment with Norfolk this weekend. And, you know, I I can’t imagine he’s going to need too many games under his belt. So he’s going to be back westburg. We’re going to see, right? I mean, it’s going to be May, at some point at the earliest, and we’re going to see it’s, it’s not a, it’s not a when, it’s an if, until we see otherwise. So. But going back to your point, they needed new, they needed some fresh they needed, at a minimum, a new coat of paint on whatever this project began as when Mike Elias arrived in the last there’s no Yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. I mean, as as much as you can point to things and say, Okay, well, that went wrong. That went wrong. You can’t plan for that. You can’t plan for that many injuries. It was still a last place team, and they needed new and I think I don’t want to speak with too much conviction with this, because it’s only been a handful of days that I’ve been around the team. But I was there for the Sunday exhibition game. I was there for the workout on Wednesday, and I was there obviously on Thursday, and yes, a big part of it is just that it’s opening day, right? And every team is going to be optimistic to some degree on opening day. And you won, but, so yeah, and you won, right? I mean, you feel better, but, but that’s also part of it. But I think there is a renewed sense of enthusiasm when you look at these guys compared to how it even felt last April, right? I mean, let’s face it, this team didn’t even win a series until mid April. By late April, things were already spiraling. And then by mid May, Brandon Hyde was already gone. I mean, they were already buried. I mean, it was over. So that’s a long time then to try to navigate a lost season where you’re playing out the string, everyone’s looking to the trade deadline at, you know, when you got into May, June and July, everyone’s looking around saying, like, who’s going to be traded here? Who has the expiring contracts, all of that. And I think it’s just tough to be in that environment. I don’t I never got the sense. Last year like that, there was like dissension, to the point where guys weren’t speaking to each other, anything like that. I just think, much like we talked about with the Ravens this past year, think everyone just felt fatigued and defeated it and just like, What the heck? Like, what happened? Well, one in five,

Nestor Aparicio  12:57

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you know, yeah, well, sure, sure.

Luke Jones  12:59

But I think, and we’ll be talking about this in a few months, when, when the Ravens really start to get going. We haven’t

Nestor Aparicio  13:05

had a lot to cheer about here, sure, in a long time. So, yeah, you know, so but, but

Luke Jones  13:09

you said it. I mean, when you bring in a manager who has a different personality, I mean, one of the coolest things that I took away from opening day with Craig Albernaz, yeah, he got the beer shower in the post game. And, you know, that’s, that’s a baseball thing, and that’s great that, you know, the players wanted to do that with their manager, but he throws batting practice like he threw batting practice on opening day of all day.

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Nestor Aparicio  13:33

Johnny Oates through BP, just yeah and no.

Luke Jones  13:35

Like, it’s funny, because I can think, like, Buck Showalter always carried around a fun go and like to, you know, like to hit, hit grounders during infield practice, right? I mean, every manager that I’ve covered generally has some kind of thing they fall back on as, I don’t know if it’s like something that’s in their wheelhouse, their comfort zone, from when they were just, quote, just a coach, but Albernaz through batting practice. It was not the entire time, because Buck Britain threw some as well, but that was just something that struck me. I thought, man, if this guy threw batting practice on opening day, I’m guessing he’s going to be throwing batting practice. I mean, maybe not every day, because, you know, I mean he’s got a 43 year old arm that I’m guessing not going to hold up if it’s every day, but it speaks to that’s just like a different kind of guy. And that, again, that’s not a knock on Brandon Hyde or any other manager out there, because other managers will have things that they are accustomed to doing, like I said, with buck, with fun goes. But I just thought that was interesting on opening day, a day where you would think a manager would not you would think, you know, he’s going to have more on his plate. You know ownership was there. He talked to David Rubenstein, he talked to Eric Getty for briefly during batting practice. But like that, just that that just felt a little different, like that was a cool vibe, and you get the sense that they really. That the players like this guy, not that they didn’t like Brandon Hyde, but it’s different, right? I mean, you get to a point where,

Nestor Aparicio  15:06

well, there’s none on the left even remember Hyde at

Luke Jones  15:09

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this point, sure. Well, yeah, but, but you just get to a point when you have what happened, not just last year, but the second half of 14, the playoff sweep in 23 being swept by the Royals in 24 I mean that that’s a lot of scar tissue in the same way we talked about this with John Harbaugh in the latter years, with not breaking through. So I don’t know. We’re going to see how it find, how it plays out, and we’re going to see how Craig Albernaz And the boys, you know, and I say that using quotes, how they handle the first time they lose five out of six, because every team in baseball goes through those kind of stretches, but it does feel like a chance for a little bit of a renaissance here, for some of you know, even for some of these young guys that haven’t been around a whole lot, but in many of their cases, tasted failure For the first time last year, like big time failure for the first time last year. So I said it at the time, and I’ll still say it. I hope that they took some lessons away from that, and now with a new manager and a revamped coaching staff and some new veteran leaders like Pete Alonso and, you know, Chris Bassett and Taylor Ward and and some, you know, some younger guys that have been brought in, like Blaze Alexander, for example. You know, I’m hoping that that mix will be helpful.

Nestor Aparicio  16:30

And Elias would probably point to the year that the Astros went into the tank and then came back and won. They cheated, but they won that there is something about going into that tank and coming back out that makes it it, I don’t know it creates something new for them. And I have a side piece for you that I wanted to throw your way on, on Rogers and on the Kyle Stowers deal and when it went down. And if Kyle Stowers had been even better than Heston cursed at, or better than Mayo was last year, good enough to hit 256 and hang around and be the replacement for Mullins, or be the replacement for whoever they would have wanted. Austin Hayes. Austin Hayes would have been

Luke Jones  17:15

awesome, something like that. Yep,

Nestor Aparicio  17:17

that if they never made that deal. And this is where, like, you know, lock and fork and get all over Elias. And I said, I don’t think he’s incompetent. I think he’s made mistakes. And I certainly think I would have, I don’t know, I know, I would have fired him, you know, fire your manager and hide. I mean, just stop. I mean, like, I that’s a that’s a non starter for me, but with him making that deal two years ago that, you know, in his deepest recesses, he got rid of a player that maybe he did not believe in, and he might not have been shocked when Stowers bloomed last year, but believing that Rogers could bloom and be an opening day starter if they don’t make that deal, I don’t feel as good about them. And if they were going to try to buy a Rogers on the market. They would have been in the Ranger Suarez for $200 million right?

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Luke Jones  18:05

Yeah, that’s why it’s always important to look at trades and say, Okay, what trades do you make? And also, and this is where, maybe, where we talk about someone like Kobe mayo, for example, maybe the trades you don’t make sometimes. I mean, from the moment they signed Pete Alonso back in December. I mean, I would have said to you, like with my full unfiltered take Kobe mayo, pack your bags. You’re going to be traded for a pitcher or something. Say that. Yeah. And now you look at it, and look, I’m not going to get a get ahead of myself here. But you look at where they are with Jordan Westberg, where they are at third base, assuming Jackson holiday is going to come back, holiday is going to be healthy enough to play, we’ll see how long it takes them to get going with the bat, you know, with a handmade bone, but I fully expect him to be on the field by mid April, at the absolute latest, and playing every day. So you have Blaze Alexander in that equation as well. But with everything that’s gone down with Westberg and not knowing when he’s going to play if he if he plays, if he does play, where is he going to play? You know, is he going to be able to play third base, or is he going to be DH right? I mean, it might be that scenario for him. So you look at that and you say, Okay, you have a situation like Kyle Stowers, where, you know, he never really got the full runway to play every day, but the times where he did get some opportunity, he didn’t really do all that well. And he’d be the first to tell you that. So then you trade him away a few even just early last year, looked like a disaster, right? I mean, you’re thinking, oh my gosh, like, This guy made the all star team, and Trevor Rogers has barely even pitched for the Orioles, but then it works out for him. He’s in Miami. Things are doing well, going well for him, but it’s also since worked out very well for the Orioles, because Trevor Rogers has blossomed into, you know, number one, number two. On a starter for them so, so that’s where you look at Kobe mayo and say, Wow. I mean, they didn’t trade them in the off season. And lo and behold, then westberg’s Hurt early in camp, and we’re going to see now, you know, we’re going to see if Mayo can handle third base, right? We’re going to see if he’s going to hit enough to overcome what challenges he might have defensively, but hey, he looked pretty good turning a double couple double plays on Thursday, so that was good to see. Point is with Mike Elias or any general manager, Eric Acosta. You know, like any sport one, you’re not going to bat 1002 it’s very easy for guys like us or fans to look with hindsight, right? Hindsight is always 2020, but when you’re trying to make the most informed decision you can at the time, you’re going to have some that aren’t going to work out, and you’re going to have some that will work out, and then you’ll have some that will look really bad at first and then work out, or you’ll have some that look good at first, and then over time, you say, oh, that didn’t work out quite as well as we thought it would, actually. So, you know, in the case of Rogers, to your point, kind of looking at where this team is just roster Construction wise and payroll wise. I mean, yeah, they’re spending more money. But how high can that go in the coming years when you’re going to have Gunnar Henderson and some of these guys getting closer and closer to free agency, and what’s going to happen there, but yeah, Rogers has been an absolute godsend. Didn’t really get to appreciate it in the full team picture last year because they were bad. But can you imagine if they utilized those

Nestor Aparicio  21:38

90 days last year, right? Yeah,

Luke Jones  21:41

well, I mean, they had to, they were out there watching them.

Nestor Aparicio  21:43

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Nobody else was but, like, the Bradish and Rogers thing is, what’s going to set everything up this year for them? Yeah, well,

Luke Jones  21:49

and, and also, I mean, look at some of the guys that got auditions in the bullpen. I mean, Rico Garcia and Dietrich enzer in their bullpen. Right now, I’m kind of holding my breath to see how that group’s going to do, but they’re two guys that absolutely took advantages of opportunity last August and September, and they parlayed that into a opening day bullpen role. So we’re going to find out one guy that we haven’t mentioned, although if you if you recall I mentioned Anthony Nunez as a sleeper. He ends up being on the on the opening day roster because Keegan Aiken got hurt on what the next to last spring training game warming up to go in. Anthony Nunez was someone that they acquired in the Cedric Mullins deal. He’s only been pitching for two years. He was an infielder, and he converted to pitching, and he was, he was so impressive to them that even though they optioned him to minor league camp a couple weeks earlier, when they ended up having the the Aiken injury, they said, let’s bring the kid up. He’s got a really good sweeper. He’s got a really good change up that’ll play against right handed bats and left handed bats, and we’re gonna find out. And if he’s, if he doesn’t do it, we’ll send them back to the minors. Leverage anyway, right? Yeah. I mean, I, I certainly can’t fathom that he’s going to be pitching in the eighth inning, but, but point is, and this goes back to what you were just saying in that lost part of the season. You know, the summer through September, they did have some runway to give some guys some opportunities. Look what it did for Kobe Mayo last September. I mean, Kobe Mayo was one of their best hitters in the final month of the season. Fresh Start going

Nestor Aparicio  23:26

to be worth the cowser and to rushman, sure to not have to look and say, I’m hitting 212 this year, this year, this year, this year. It’s fresh. It’s zero, you know, it’s zeros on zeros. And for that, for the amount of talent they have, you know. And that goes for all of the Mayos and curse dads and and all of these first round draft picks or second round draft picks, or high ceiling guys, or guys that hit the cover off the ball three different levels before they got here. The Fresh Start thing goes a long way. And I certainly felt that on opening day, I felt like I felt like there’s a different energy around the team. And I don’t know about you, Luke, but I’m glad I bet the over on them so far this year. So people are pooping them on me all over the internet. I’m like, I’m the guy that thinks they’re winning 90 games this year. Luke doesn’t even

Luke Jones  24:13

think that. No, I actually 90 is what I settled on second place in a wild card.

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Nestor Aparicio  24:18

Yeah, so, but 91 There you go. There you go. Because I always want to be this much more optimistic.

Luke Jones  24:25

That’s all right, hey, I I hope I’m wrong. I hope they win 98 games and they’re winning the division and winning playoff series. But no, I think what you just said really. You don’t want to overreact on opening day. We all know that. However, this is the first time after opening day, as the boys drove home Thursday evening, and as they enjoy Friday’s off day, and they get back to the ballpark around lunchtime, or, you know, late morning on Saturday with Kyle Bradish going in game 202.

Nestor Aparicio  24:56

By the way,

Luke Jones  24:57

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it’s oh yeah, that’s where I’ll actually. Appreciate the new press box with windows that close, but, but, but this is the first time 80, but this is the first time they’ve been over 500 since the home opener last year. I mean, think about that. That’s the first time that those guys will look at the standings and see that they’ve won more games than they’ve lost. And you look at how this opening month sets up Minnesota home against Texas at Pittsburgh, at the White Sox, home against San Francisco home against Arizona at Cleveland, at Kansas City, Boston, Houston. Now the end of April, things business picks up in terms of the opponents. But you look at these first three weeks or so, you hope it sets up for them to get off to a good start, because those aren’t exactly juggernaut opponents they’re facing on paper. Now it’s baseball. You got to go out and handle your business. We all know that, but not of

Nestor Aparicio  25:55

an eight start would be good. That would be good.

Luke Jones  25:57

It’d be so good. And look again, it’s me here. We’re, you know, me. I’m not Mr. Overreaction. I talk about small sample size and letting the season breathe and all that. But I think there is absolutely an extra level of importance for this team, and maybe more importantly, for this fan base, to get off to a good start, to feel good about things early on. Yeah, they’re going to have some stretches where, you know, the bullpen is going to probably be, you know, make it, make you nervous, make you cringe a little bit. I’m sure that’s going to happen, but I think they’re going to hit the ball Thursday’s results, not withstanding, I do think they’re going to hit the ball. And I’m telling you, man, I like this rotation. I like the potential for this rotation, and I like the floor

Nestor Aparicio  26:43

for the rotation feels like they might get six innings all week. I mean,

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Luke Jones  26:47

look, I wouldn’t have guessed seven innings from Trevor Rogers on opening day when you consider the pitch count was 85 to 90. You know, for for any pitcher in his first start in this day and age in baseball, but for him to get through seven and again, it wasn’t, you know, he walked four guys. I mean, it wasn’t the most dominant, crisp, sharp effort from him, but boy, he got the job done. I mean, he, he got, got double playground balls when he needed to. You know, despite some traffic on the bases, I’ve seen

Nestor Aparicio  27:15

the names in the bullpen. You don’t want to go

Luke Jones  27:16

too soon, no doubt. I mean, if you could do that where the bullpen only has to cover two, two innings, three innings most nights. Man, I’ll take that. I also know realistically speaking, that’s not going to be the case all year long. But yeah, I mean, Tyler wells, he gives up a run. I mean, it was a double that Ward kind of played into a triple. It wasn’t, wasn’t his finest moment in the outfield. But yeah, I thought, Helsley. How about Helsley touching the 102 you think he was fired up pitching for his no new team. So get off to a good start, and then the thoughts and memories of last year for the guys that were around last year. Nope. Craig Albernaz doesn’t care about last year. Pete Alonso doesn’t care about last year. Taylor Ward and, you know Bassett and guys like that. You know Shane Boz, they don’t care about last year, but the guys who were around you get off to a good start. And, man, you really do start to forget about that. And then to your point, when you’re talking about guys like rutsman or Colton cowser, who cowser made contact hit a fly ball. Guy on third, less than two outs, hit a fly ball, knock the run in, right? I mean, that’s what you want. Can you do more of those things as an offense, too? We all love the home runs, right? You love the slug. But on a day like Thursday, where you’re not squaring up many pitches, you’re not not squaring up many baseballs, you’ve got to manufacture a full runs, you know? So, some good base running and situational hitting, hit a fly ball, get an RBI. So that was good to see. So that, I think that was, that was a nice little bit of success for Colton cowser to have on opening day. So we’ll see again. It was one game, but it was a fun day. And I think the the overall feeling that everyone had leaving the ballpark was, it was a good feeling, right? It was a feeling of, hey, 2026 doesn’t necessarily have to be 2025

Nestor Aparicio  29:09

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and I think the radish go Saturday. Who goes Sunday?

Luke Jones  29:11

It’ll be Boz Yeah, yeah, yeah. Their rotation,

Nestor Aparicio  29:15

Basset is four. Okay, yeah,

Luke Jones  29:16

bassett’s four, and efflin is five. And, I mean, we you, and I haven’t had a chance to talk about it too much, but

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Nestor Aparicio  29:23

that’s the strongest four and five David on here since they had Jimmy key and Mike Messina and Ben McDonald and, you

Luke Jones  29:30

know, I mean, they’ve had, you know, you know, the 2014

Nestor Aparicio  29:34

team had a way in Shanghai. You know how much I love Miguel, but I know that, boy, it’s up there. These guys are better pitchers

Luke Jones  29:41

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than those guys. Well, think about it. And look, I don’t want to, I don’t want to compare something to 2025 because that wasn’t a very good standard. We all understand.

Nestor Aparicio  29:48

I had to think of this Japanese guy, Sagano, you know, thinking about and, and then my Venezuelan brother, Suarez, right? Who’s 39 years old, or whatever, right?

Luke Jones  29:56

But, but efflin was the opening day starter last year, and he’s the. Number Five now, and this isn’t by default. He looked healthy enough, and he looked that good in the spring where they said, we don’t we don’t want to slow play Zach we we want to get him in the rotation. And Dean Kramer, we love you. You’re going to be part of this at some point in the not too distant future. I’d be shocked if we’re not seeing Dean Kramer by I don’t know, mid April, the third week of April, in some capacity, whether it’s long relief, whether it’s starting whatever. I mean, it’s baseball, things happen, right? You’re going to need more more arms. But the idea that they deliberately said, efflin, you’re ready to go, Dean Kramer, we’re sending you to Norfolk for the first couple weeks of the season. I mean, that speaks to where they are rotation wise, and how much. I mean, it’s night and day where they are now, compared to where they were at this time last year. Where we’re waiting for, we’re waiting for Grayson Rodriguez updates, right? You know, in terms of, is he throwing yet? Apparently, right? Yeah, he’s on the he’s on the shelf again. So, so, I mean, it’s just, I think I just love the rotation from the standpoint of what Rogers could become this year, what Bradish? You know, if Bradish is healthy, he he’s been a dominant pitcher for a few years now, every time he’s taken the bump, to me, another Cy

Nestor Aparicio  31:20

Young candidate, more so even than Rogers, I think

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Luke Jones  31:23

so proven. I just, I just think it’s not even so much the fact that he’s more proven his stuff is so much like he has so much spin. It’s, it’s ridiculous. But that said Shane Boz, and we’re going to get a chance to see him on Sunday. Go look at his look at his knuckle curve and his high 90s fastball. And tell me, if you don’t see the kind of guy that how we viewed Grayson Rodriguez a couple years ago before the injuries started to mount. Boz can be that guy I said it to you from the time they traded for him to me, he’s Grayson Rodriguez. The difference is he’s been healthy the last 18 months, so you have those three and then Bassett, who, you know, is not a guy that you’re going to look at on paper and say, Yeah, I want him to start game one of a playoff series, but he’s good for 175 innings, and he’s going to help you get there if you can get there as a team. And efflin, I mean, he was our opening day starter last year. His stuff ticked up a little bit this spring. You know, his arm slots a little bit higher. I think the back was really hindering him in that way to really kind of get full, you know, the full range of motion and everything he wanted to be able to do as a starting pitcher. So, you know, I mean, go look at Zach Eflin back in 2023 go look at the Cy Young votes he got pitching for the raise. I mean, that’s not that long ago to think that he can’t be a really solid part of their rotation. So, and that’s not even talking about the guys they have at Norfolk. I mean, they have some other guys at Norfolk that, not right now, other than Kramer, but some other guys that, if they pitch well enough over the next few months, they could be in the conversation come August. So that’s not to say they’re going to overtake any of these guys, necessarily, but if you do have a health concern or two at some point, which is inevitable, then I think you’ve got some interesting arms at Norfolk, even. So I’m I am much more bullish on this rotation. And let me be clear, that doesn’t mean I think they’re going to be the best in the American League. I just think they’re going to be better than what a lot of the projections are right now. I think there’s, I think there’s upside for them to be one of the best rotations in the American League. If they pop, you know, if the young guys pop and if the veteran guys stay healthy, right? I mean, so, so we’ll see. You know, well, our curiosity will be satisfied very soon, as Buck Showalter used to like to say, but at the very least that the season debut on Thursday was a thumbs up. I don’t want to go

Nestor Aparicio  33:50

down the rabbit hole too much in this, because I do feel awful today, and less is more. Feel better, by the way. Yeah, thank you. We’ll have plenty of time. I had a wonderful trip till I got home, but I didn’t make it on opening day. Lucas here, by the way, farther than Dermer. They’re the comfort guys. Zach, I need some comfort. I don’t mean AC or eat. I mean send, send medicine, send chicken soup. My wife may be chicken soup, so thank thanks for her. This is the last thing I want to give you, because it’s just top of mind, much like the trade of Stowers and how it benefits the Orioles today, I’ve watched baseball my whole life. You’ve watched baseball your whole life. I’m a little bit older than you, lot older than you, actually, in baseball terms, 1000s of games older. The first game I ever watched in my life where a hitter says, No, that’s a ball, that’s a strike, that’s a strike, that’s a ball that used to be showing up the umpire. And Lord knows, those umpires were such pricks in my day, like, you know, rabbit ears just all. I remember riding a shuttle one time in Cleveland with an umpire and like an airport shuttle. And I remember spending 10 minutes with the guy. I don’t remember who he was. And I’m like, Oh my God, there’s some Ball Coach, gym teacher, tough guy. They’re all, you know, they’re all wired with fu built into them because they have to deal with Earl Weaver, Lou Pinel every night, right? I would say this part of the game, and the change part of the game, is another thing that even Jim Palmer, Ben McDonald watching the game, people that have watched this, and Albert has is your age. He’s not as old as me, but once you get to be older and you’re not as quick to adjust, to change, and say, I mean, I remember when replay came to football, dude, they used to do this without instant replay. Ask Mike Renfro up in Pittsburgh and 79 right? So the notion that they’ve finally installed this, because they’ve been talking about this for a decade, you know, tennis has been doing this with the ball and the line for a while, right? And I don’t know that it’s going to be seamless, but I do think that they’ve strategically, I’m not going to give Rob Manfred a whole lot of credit, especially when they’re this time next year. They’re not playing baseball and they’re pitching at each other. That’s another story altogether. But I don’t say they got it right, but they’ve made it interesting. Yeah, they’ve made every pitch interesting. And I watched Thursday’s game. It’s a different game than it ever used to be when you get called out on a really cruddy pitch that’s clearly no good. Like, remember the, remember the perfect game where the umpire got the Galarraga call wrong, you know, two outs in the ninth inning, and he just clearly missed the call.

Luke Jones  36:36

That was Jim Joyce, I think, right, yeah, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  36:39

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And then, you know, I mean all of the famous Harry Wendell stat in the World Series and 85 with the Royals and the Cardinals. The reason you know umpires names is because of something that happens. This is interesting for baseball, and I like that to be interesting. Yeah.

Luke Jones  36:59

I like it. You know I’ve watched I know you did as well. I’ve watched a lot of spring training as well, and I think it’s a fairly seamless system in the sense that you’re not sitting there waiting for 45 training.

Nestor Aparicio  37:13

It didn’t matter. Oh sure, sure. Game, you know, if there’s real stakes, but they start inning on a 00, picture, like, I’m going to challenge that. You better be right. You better be right early on.

Luke Jones  37:25

Sure. No question. Well, it’s no different than, like, if John Harbaugh would challenge an incomplete pass that was called a complete pass, but it was only a four yard difference in the first quarter. It’s like, what are we doing? Yeah, you know, I mean, like, so you have to be tactical about it. But I like it. And you know what’s funny about it? If you look at the data from spring training, I mean that the success rate, and they even broke it down for hitter versus fielders. And obviously when it’s fielder, it’s either catcher or pitcher, but the success rate is still hovers around 5050, so you know what that tells me? The umpires are actually way better at calling balls and strikes than we think. However, when you do have the more egregious one, or the hot, the highest of high leverage situation, and you’ve got a you’ve got a chance to take a whirl at it, because you’ve saved one of your challenges, that’s what you want it for, right? You and I have talked about this with replay in the NFL for years, where there’s nothing worse than when they sit there and look at it for four minutes, five minutes, and you get to the point where you say, guys take a step back if you have to look at it that long, it’s not irrefutable evidence, so the call needs to stand right. So, but, but in the case of replay, as far as how the spirit of it, the idea is to correct the most egregious calls, and this system should be able to do that. However, I think it’s also going to have a couple other there’s going to be a couple other byproducts of this. One, I think we’re going to realize a lot of umpires are way better at calling balls and strikes than we think, because you’re going to see how many of them aren’t overturned. And the other factor, I think, will be interesting. And I’ve seen a couple, I’ve seen a couple former players chime in on this, you know, watching MLB Network, listening to MLB radio, all that they kind of, they think that this actually might help offense in general, because these pitchers, in these spots where it’s a two, two pitch and there’s two or three guys on base, they tend to, you know, they tend to throw it a couple winches off the plate, trying to get a pitcher to chase. And it might eliminate some of those scenarios or trying to get a hitter to chase. And it might eliminate some of those scenarios where they might have to be a little more fine coming over the edge of the plate, and the hitter might make them pay for that. So I’ve seen a lot of people kind of chime in that think that this could help offense, just in general, from a philosophical standpoint, which I just thought was an interesting I thought that was an interesting byproduct, you know, a. Hypothesis that we’ll have to see, but I like it. It’s quick. That’s the key for me. Don’t disrupt the flow of the game. And it’s quick, and I think it’s going to have a similar positive impact to how we view the pitch timer. My goodness, the pitch timer was that’s all we talked about that spring. And now we don’t when was the last time you and I talked about a pitch timer violation? It hardly ever happens, because these guys are just used to it now. So there’ll be a little more drama with the ABS system, but I like it. I think it’s a great way to handle the most egregious of the egregious bad calls, like we saw with the Dominican against the United States and the WBC. I mean, the US absolutely benefited from that. And if there had been an ABS challenge in that spot, who knows how that game winds up? So I like it. I’m really interested to see how it’s going to play out.

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Nestor Aparicio  40:54

It might be the last game ever played without it, right?

Luke Jones  40:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I but I do think, I think the data will play out, and the minor leagues did this as well. It also is going to help relations between players and umpires, because I think you’re going to find out that a lot of these borderline ball strike calls the umpires are way better than a lot of fans and players and media want to give them credit for, and I think the system will bear that out, while it will also correct the ones that are clear or misses.

Nestor Aparicio  41:25

He is Luke Jones. I am Nestor. I am on the mend. Over the weekend, I am back from South America. My thanks to everybody that said hello to me and wanted to hear about Machu Picchu. You can still send me an email on that. Nestor. Baltimore, positive.com thanks to all of our sponsors. I’m wearing my copping gear, obviously our friends at Toyota, and every everybody that makes this happen here, Farnon and Dermer, and they’re all up all over the website, GBMC, and the Maryland crab cake tour and the Maryland Lotter. We’re going to get back out on the road the minute I can get myself together. I’ve only spit into four napkins here, Luke, and I’ve only muted myself 16 times, wheezing and and hissing and coughing and and I know my wife’s coffee tastes better than this. I’ve lost all sense of taste so, but I still have good taste. I’ll be watching the Orioles on Saturday and Sunday, and hope everybody’s in freeze out there Saturday afternoon. He’s Luke. I’m Nestor. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.