Today’s 1-0 loss should be a reminder to all of us Orioles sickos out there: much as we love this team, the 2026 version just ain’t it. Despite Trevor Rogers turning in one of the greatest starts of his season (even, perhaps, of his career), with eight one-run innings on just three hits and ten strikeouts, the Birds did absolutely zilch on offense, getting shut out by a relative neophyte in Milwaukee’s Robert Glasser (who had just twenty-plus starts to his name before today). They managed four hits all game, and went 0-for-7 with RISP. The O’s postseason chances, already slim after last night, have taken another critical hit. I’m getting tired of the watchful waiting.
Instead, let’s let today stand as a reminder to look back with gratitude on better teams of Orioles past (Trey Mancini’s heroic career), and to think ahead to better teams of the future (imagine a day where Trevor Rogers and Shane Baz could get some run support!).
Today, prior to the game, the O’s held a moving on-field ceremony for Trey Mancini, who in six seasons as an Oriole (2016-22) racked up a .270 average and 117 home runs while also winning MVO in 2019 and AL Comeback Player in 2021 after beating cancer. After being out of baseball in ’24 and ‘25, he returned to MLB this season with the Angels before signing a one-day contract with Baltimore to retire an Oriole. Reminiscing in the MASN booth during the game, Mancini sounded as decent a guy as ever. The longtime O’s first baseman talked about homering in his MLB debut, hitting an inside-the-park home run off Josh Lowe’s face on the one-year anniversary of superfan Mo Gaba’s passing, meeting up with current O’s first baseman Pete Alonso in the 2021 Home Run Derby, and ending his career on his own terms. Kudos to Mancini. It was so great to see him.
Meanwhile, thinking ahead to next season, I can’t wait to see more of lefty Trevor Rogers. Making his final home start of 2026, Rogers made sure it would go down as his best. He threw a career-high-tying eight innings, striking out ten and allowing just three hits and one run. (That run, by the way, came because of a sun-assisted blooper by Rece Hinds that any sunglasses-wearing outfielder should have had.) It was a completely magisterial performance. Even in a comparative down year after his unreal 2025 (9-3, 1.81 ERA in 18 starts), the lefty has a 69.2% first-pitch strike rate, first in MLB this season and the highest of any Orioles starter since they started keeping track.
Here are some of the Rogers highlights, which are well worth watching when you get the chance. Rogers whizzed through the first inning in just ten pitches. He landed a third-strike fastball on the corner to freeze Brewers centerfielder Garrett Mitchell, prompting MASN’s Big Ben McDonald to say, “You can’t throw a four-seamer, folks, any better than that.”
What could beat Trevor Rogers, looking like this? Answer: Rece Hinds’ accessorizing choices. The right fielder lost a routine fly ball in the sun off the bat of former Orioles Joey Ortiz in the second inning, letting the ball roll right by him as Ortiz made it to third. The official scorekeepers counted this a triple—which felt gravely wrong. A weak squibber to third scored Ortiz, giving the Brewers the game’s first and only run. As MASN’s Kevin Brown later put it, “[Rogers is] a pair of Oakleys away from having a no-hitter!”
Rogers kept rolling. After he sewed up the fourth inning, Big Ben exclaimed, “It’s Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood!” Corny, but I liked it.
Rogers was inevitable in the fifth inning, too. You could start to see it in the face of Milwaukee backstop Gary Sanchez’s face as he rolled fruitlessly over a changeup—the face of a team that’s got nothing going against a starter. The same expression could be seen on Cooper Platt, swinging through a fastball. And Luis Lara, caught looking. (A group of hitters looking as demoralized as this shouldn’t win games.)
Come the sixth, the strike-throwing Rogers was still at just 60 pitches! It, too, was another three-up, three-down affair, and Rogers had retired nine in a row.
In the seventh, Rogers allowed a real single to William Contreras—I say “real,” because it was the first well-hit ball off Rogers all game. But it amounted to zilch in the box score, because Andrew Vaughn bounced a ball off the mound and Jeremiah Jackson, at second, played it perfectly, stepping on second and firing to first in time for the twin killing. Joey Ortiz popped out, and MASN’s Kevin Brown announced, “seven magnificent innings for Trevor Rogers.” I was so thrilled.
Then, the eighth was even more magnificent. Rogers allowed a leadoff single to Gary Sanchez, and the bullpen got to warming (gulp). But they might have just stayed seated. Rogers strung together two consecutive strikeouts. Second baseman David Hamilton tried to bunt… with two outs! Didn’t matter. Hamilton got rung up, too. Rogers had struck out the side in the eighth.
“It’s been an absolute love affair between Trevor Rogers and Orioles fans,” said Kevin Brown. Deservedly. What a performance by the Orioles lefty in his final home appearance of 2026.
And yet—somehow, ridiculously, the Brewers were still leading this game. That’s because the O’s’ efforts against Milwaukee lefty Robert Gasser, sorry to say it, were again flat, pointless, and stupid. The lefty seems just okay, stuff-wise, and at several points in the game, he lost control of his fastball. But the O’s couldn’t take advantage. They managed just two hits off Glasser and were terrible, once again, with RISP.
Is part of the trouble the platooning thing again? Clearly, this O’s lineup was built for handedness, not average—what else can explain Jeremiah Jackson at leadoff, and Rece Hinds, Christian Franklin, and Leody Taveras in the six, seven and nine spots? In fairness, Jackson was OK—he led off the O’s first inning with a single, and started that crucial double play that helped Rogers get through the seventh inning. And Rece Hinds did hit the ball hard, with one 109-mph double and a walk. But Franklin was deadweight, and Samuel Basallo, in the eight spot, looks really lost right now. Both turned in 0-fers, as did Pete Alonso, Coby Mayo (albeit one BB), and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. You need more than that from your 2-3-4 hitters.
I’ll spare you much more salt on the wound, but for the second day in a row, the Orioles wasted crucial RISP situations against Milwaukee, downing the pitching’s heroic efforts to snatch a win from the MLB’s best team with hitters going down like lambs to slaughter.
In the third, Baltimore had Gunnar Henderson and Hinds aboard with no outs before Christian Franklin, averaging .147, hit into a double play. Boo. Basallo, following him, grounded out.
They wasted a huge chance in the sixth, too, loading the bases on two walks and a HBP, but with one out, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit into an uncharacteristic double play and the bases stayed loaded.
Alex Hoppe pitched a fine ninth, despite my nerves about seeing him out there. Actually, he’s got an incredible sinker, with like ten inches of movement on it. If he can find the plate next season, I’ll be glad to see more of him.
Anyway, that’s it. The O’s postseason chances, already slim after last night, just faded again. October baseball seems, well, close, but no cigar, like a win today. Today, instead, felt like a reminder to fans who love this team: let’s look back on nicer Orioles teams past, including the good old years of Trey Mancini’s heroics at first, and look ahead to the future, where a starting rotation that features Trevor Rogers might also get some goddamn run support.
