Good morning, Camden Chatters.

Good news: the Orioles do, indeed, love their mothers. They made it a happy Mother’s Day with a 2-1 win over the Athletics that averted a three-game sweep. While the O’s offense again didn’t inspire much confidence, they delivered one of their best-pitched games of the season, holding their opponent to one run for just the third time in 2026. They even made a legitimately good defensive play — who knew it was possible? — with Leody Taveras and Samuel Basallo joining forces to cut down the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh. Check out Mark Brown’s recap of the much-needed victory.

With the win, the Orioles (18-23) have climbed out of the basement of the AL East, pulling a half-game ahead of the Red Sox (17-23). It’s wild to think that the O’s, as horrific as they’ve looked this year, still have a better record than three AL teams and are within a game and a half of six others. The American League is well and truly dreadful so far. Only three of the 15 teams have winning records. Three! The Yankees and Rays have been great, the Athletics have been good, and everyone else is .500 or worse. At this rate it’s going to be hard to scrounge up six legitimate AL teams to make the playoffs. In that sense, the Orioles’ hopes of remaining relevant in 2026 are far from over.

Still, it stands to reason that the entire league isn’t going to stay bad for four more months. A few teams will stabilize and will separate themselves from the pack. In all likelihood, all six AL playoff teams will finish the year with a winning record. So the Orioles are going to have to do some real work if they want to be part of that group. Moseying around mediocrity isn’t going to cut it in the long run.

These next three games against the Yankees are going to be an enormous test. Frankly, we’re all kind of expecting the Yanks to mop the floor with the Birds like they did last weekend in New York, when the O’s were humiliated in all four games, getting outscored 39-10. And that may well happen again. But if the Orioles can show some semblance of fight and urgency, and maybe steal a game or two in this series, perhaps the outlook for the rest of 2026 won’t look so bleak.

We can only hope this matchup against the Yankees goes better than the last, or the Orioles’ escape from the AL East cellar will prove to be short-lived.

Links

Has Rutschman returned to his All-Star form? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com

Alternate headline: “Is Adley so back?” I think we all know the answer, friends.

Orioles’ Anthony Nunez pulls off gender reveal for brother after relief outing – The Baltimore Sun

This is a pretty cool way to do a gender reveal. Way better than those people who, like, set off fireworks and accidentally start a forest fire or something.

Orioles trying Jackson Holliday at third base during Sunday rehab start – The Baltimore Banner

Translation: Coby Mayo might want to start packing his bags for Norfolk.

Better safe than sorry! Albernaz dons mask, glove in dugout – MLB.com

I feel like the O’s have been so terrible that we haven’t gotten to see much of Alby’s personality, so it’s good to see that the manager is trying to keep things loose. Whether it will make any kind of difference is another question.

Gunnar Henderson: “I’ve been pretty terrible for about a month now” – Steve Melewski

Yes, Gunnar. We’ve noticed.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Four ex-Orioles were born on this day, most notably the late right-hander Milt Pappas (b. 1939, d. 2016). Pappas pitched in the majors for 17 years and won 209 games, and he spent the half of his career in Baltimore, where he was a two-time All-Star and a steady presence in the Orioles’ rotation for nearly a decade. But he’s best known for being the main piece of the three-player package sent to the Reds for Frank Robinson, which turned into the best trade in Orioles history.

Other former Orioles with May 11 birthdays are right-handers Kerry Ligtenberg (55) and Mark Huismann (68) and outfielder Trenidad Hubbard (62).

On this day last year, the Orioles beat the Angels in Los Angeles, 7-3. Zach Eflin pitched five solid innings, Gunnar Henderson bashed a two-run homer, and #9 hitter Maverick Handley drove in two runs without a hit thanks to a sac fly and a squeeze bunt. It was the 421st — and final — win of Brandon Hyde’s Orioles managerial career. The O’s followed with four straight losses and Hyde was fired later that week.

Random Orioles game of the day

On May 11, 1999, the Orioles suffered an 11-6 loss in Cleveland. An early 2-0 O’s lead evaporated when Cleveland scored six runs in the fourth, with the first six batters of the inning all reaching base against Sidney Ponson, capped by a Richie Sexson three-run homer. Ponson was tagged for eight runs in 4.2 innings and wasted an 11-hit effort by the O’s offense. Cleveland starter Bartolo Colón, in the third season of his eventual 21-year career, earned the win.

The rise of Cam Schlittler has not just been one of the most thrilling Yankees stories to watch over the last year, but one of the best stories in all of baseball. Once a mid-rotation starter with modest fastball velocity in college, Schlittler has transformed into a monster, a fire-breathing dragon of a pitcher that mows you down with pure gas every fifth day. It’s still a bit shocking to say, given he was a relative unknown as recently as a year ago, but he’s on the short list of AL Cy Young contenders right now.

But there’s another Yankee pitcher that will make a case for the league’s highest pitching honor. Max Fried hasn’t gone through any kind of meteoric rise over the last year or two, instead steadily continuing to ply his trade as one of the best left-handed hurlers in the sport.

If you had to choose, which pitcher do you think is more likely to actually take home Cy Young hardware this year? Betting markets peg Schlittler as a narrow favorite, but he and Fried are neck-and-neck at the top, and they each look they have a real chance to end up in first.

Schlittler’s bona fides require little introduction. He has been, by most measures, the best pitcher in baseball in 2026, leading the league by distance in both fWAR and RA-9 WAR, unsurprising given he leads the majors in both FIP and ERA. There is no one who seems more likely on a given night to fire seven shutout innings.

Fried, for his part, has not been quite as dominant but has still been excellent. Though he lags a bit in ERA (12th in the AL at the moment), he’s sixth FIP and actually leads the Junior Circuit in expected ERA per Statcast, even outstripping Schlittler himself.

Schlittler’s resume so far is more impressive, and if you’re to base your choice on who has performed best in 2026, there is no comparison. But where Fried has an argument is in his reliability. There are few better bets to reach the 200-inning threshold this year than Fried, who FanGraphs projects to finish the year with 202 frames to his name. Schlittler might have more upside this season, and in any given start, than anyone on the planet, but Fried has the track record and is seemingly the safer bet to complete a full season’s workload.

Ultimately, it’ll be a delight if either Yankee secures the award, and all we’ll have to do here is root for them to finish 1-2 in some order. But if you had to handicap it now, who do you think has the better chance?

On the site today, Sam helps us turn the page on a dreadful series in Milwaukee by previewing the three-game set in Baltimore. Also, John profiles Walt Terrell as part of our Yankee Birthday series, and Kevin recaps a busy Sunday around the American League. And later, Josh wonders what’s gotten into the Tampa Bay Rays, while Madison puts out the call for this week’s mailbag.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

Time: 6:35 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, MASN

Venue: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

The first official mock draft has been released by MLB.com and reporter Jim Callis is predicting that the Pittsburgh Pirates will select the best pitcher in the class.

With the fifth overall pick, the Pirates are projected to draft right handed pitcher Jackson Flora out of UC Santa Barbara. This year Flora has been looked at as the consensus best pitcher in the class. The Junior righty has a 9-0 record in 2026 and leads NCAA Division I in earned run average with a 0.73 ERA this year.

Flora is ranked as the fourth overall prospect in this year’s class and has clearly separated himself from the rest of the arms that will be featured during the draft. At 6’5” Flora possesses an athletic build that helps him pack a punch with his fastballs. His heaters are on average in the mid-90’s range and regularly touch triple digits. His mid-80’s slider has developed as another strong pitch in his repertoire, while his changeup has become a solid second pitch in his arsenal.

The California native has enjoyed a solid three-year career at UC Santa Barbara. Flora’s freshman season saw him used mostly as a relief pitcher out of the pen, but he exploded onto the scene as a sophomore in 2025. As a second year player, Flora helped lead the Gauchos to a 36-18 record, and compiled 86 strikeouts with a 3.60 ERA and a 6-3 record as a starter. As the top pitcher in the country Flora and the Gauchos currently have a 32-15 record.

Flora fits the mold of pitchers that the Pirates have liked to bring in over the past couple of years. The tall athletic build coupled with a strong fastball first approach is the blueprint used for most of Pittsburgh’s starters, and Flora could be a great addition to that group if he’s still available fifth overall.

The MLB Draft starts on July 11 during the All-Star break in Philadelphia.

BALTIMORE – There are still a few maxims about playing for the Athletics – late of Oakland, currently of West Sacramento, perhaps soon of Las Vegas – that remain true in this period of franchise limbo.

Best to rent, not buy, as owner John Fisher’s cozy luxury-geared dream ballpark goes up in Las Vegas and the club makes do in what should be the second of three seasons in Yolo County.

Life remains more luxe on the road, with 10,000-seat Sutter Health Park still geared for a Class AAA ballclub despite upgrades to satisfy the big league squatters. And while the roster is no longer an homage to the major league minimum salary, the club’s $91.8 million opening-day payroll still ranks 25^th out of 30 teams.

 Yet it’s undeniable that something has changed as a core of largely homegrown players coalesces. Players can glance around the clubhouse and see not a stopgap or trade fodder, but rather a dude they came up with.

And in some cases, envision playing alongside for many more years.

“When there’s a level of comfort, a level of familiarity with each other, and camaraderie and a good culture in the clubhouse, it makes it easy to go out and have fun and perform at a high level on the field,” All-Star DH and veteran sage Brent Rooker tells USA TODAY Sports.

“We’ve got all those things.”

Forty games into the season, they’ve got something else: The third-best record in the American League and a tenuous hold on first place in the AL West.

At 21-19, the A’s are by no means popping bottles. After all, they reached the one-quarter mark last season with an identical record – and proceeded to lose 19 of their next 21 games on the way to a 76-86 finish.

As if on cue, the club lost All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson to a sprained left shoulder on Sunday, May 11; initial imaging was not definitive but Wilson figures to go on the injured list before the club takes on St. Louis at home Tuesday.

Still, the team at large has an extra year under its belt, a greater familiarity with its temporary home and a stronger conviction in doing its job.

“I feel like last year, all the guys were feeling everything – getting their feet wet in Sacramento, seeing how the ball flies, all that stuff,” says right-hander Luis Severino, whose $67 million contract signed before 2025 marked a capital investment unforeseen when the roster went to pot in the club’s dying days in Oakland. “Now we have a different mentality to go out there and compete.

“We showed the world last year what we can do and this year we just continue to do that.”

PHOENIX — The New York Mets sat in dead silence Sunday afternoon. No music. No TV. No conversation.

The only sound was chop sticks snatching sushi off plates, the packing of bags, and the shuffling of feet out of the visiting clubhouse, down the corridor and towards the team buses.

The Mets, after spending 10 days on the beaches of Southern California, the snow-capped mountains in Colorado and the desert in Arizona, are finally going home.

And they return to New York the same miserable, underachieving team that left.

Their only dignity leaving Phoenix was that they didn’t suffer the humiliation of being no-hit, losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-1, producing a combined total of nine hits and three runs in regulation during the three games at Chase Field. Their three hits and two runs in the 10^th inning in their 3-1 Friday victory saved their weekend from being a complete disaster.

They managed to make Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez, Merrill Kelly and Ryne Nelson look like Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and Brandon Webb of D-backs’ lore. The D-backs trio, who entered the weekend with a 5.50 ERA, yielded a 1.23 ERA in the series, yielding just nine hits and three runs in 22 innings. Rodriguez, who has pitched 11 years in the major leagues, making 243 career starts, pitched 8 ⅓ innings Sunday for the longest stint of his career.

“We’re better than that," said a visibly frustrated Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, “especially the past couple of days. We needed to be better."

The Mets’ offense was not only awful Sunday, but for their entire trip. The Mets hit .209 on the nine-game journey, averaging 3.6 runs a game.

Juan Soto and Bo Bichette, who are earning $103.875 million this year, highlighted the Mets’ woes, going 0-for-20 in the three games in Arizona.

“I mean, there’s no issues right here," Soto said. “We’re all professionals. We all can handle this stuff. But definitely, we’re struggling a little bit right now.

“But I think it’s going to pass."

MLB.com | Casey Drottar: Although the Yankees suffered a second straight walk-off loss and a series sweep on Sunday, at least one Yankee enjoyed a nice moment. After going hitless with four strikeouts in his first two games, Spencer Jones got his first major league hit in the second inning against Logan Henderson, a 106.4 mph single up the middle that scored José Caballero. Fittingly for Mother’s Day, his mom (along with the rest of his family) was there to cheer him on. Hard to top that in terms of presents, I imagine. Congratulations, Spencer, and I hope the hits keep coming for you.

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: Camilo Doval was trusted with the eighth inning of the Yankees’ Saturday extra inning loss to Milwaukee, and Doval played his part in getting the game to extras by allowing Brice Turang to get aboard, steal second, and score on a William Contreras hit. Doval has managed to cut back on issuing walks, his previous Achilles heel, and yet he’s allowed 10 runs in his last 12.1 innings of work largely due to the 15 hits he’s allowed over that span, three of which were long balls. The former Giants closer doesn’t look like he can be trusted with high leverage outings at this point, leaving a gap in the team’s bullpen hierarchy that needs to be filled sooner rather than later.

MLB.com | Casey Drottar: Another Yankee who achieved an important milestone on Sunday was Carlos Rodón, who made his first start of 2026 after missing the first month of the season while recovering from offseason surgery to remove a bone spur from his left elbow. While his overall line was forgettable – 3 earned runs, 5 strikeouts and 5 walks over 4.1 innings – Drottar points to one undeniably positive sign; Rodón averaged 95.7 mph on his heater during the start, 1.6 mph faster than his 2025 average. If nothing else, this suggests that his elbow is indeed in better shape. If he can improve his control, Rodón might be able to recapture his excellent 2025 form, or maybe even surpass it.

FanGraphs | David Laurila: If you’re a fan of the splitter, you’ll enjoy this interview with Spencer Medick, currently the pitching coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, on the various shapes and properties that splitters can have. According to Medick, by generating less spin on their splitters, pitchers can make the pitch “dance” in a way akin to knuckleballs from the batter’s viewpoint. The erstwhile Driveline coach cites Fernando Cruz as an example of a low-spin splitter, while naming Yovanny Cruz and Brendan Beck as current Triple-A hurlers that have the pitch in their arsenal (though their spin rates vary).

ESPN | Bradford Doolittle: You might’ve taken a look at the AL standings at large lately and become perplexed at how bunched up most of the field is. Outside of New York and Tampa Bay, everyone else is either under .500 or skirting around it. While the standard deviation between the teams in the league is currently 14.4 wins, it’s projected to dive back down towards a final number of 8.8, by far the lowest amount since the turn of the decade and a sharp nosedive from the drastic disparity that 2019 displayed with three 100 win teams and three 100 loss teams in the league. Whether this can hold up or not remains to be seen, but the huge clump that has formed at the start of the year should give us a race where most teams are in the running for a long time.

MLB.com: There are flaws to be spotted on each and every team after more than a month of play, and the Yankees have their fair share of them. One of the areas they can reasonably improve on is their leadoff production, and their biggest culprit can lead the charge to fixing the problem. Trent Grisham has received the lion’s share of starts atop the lineup but struggled out of the gate. Grisham’s peripherals have looked amazing, however, and he’s starting to see more of the hits that he’s deserved based off of how hard he’s been ripping the ball setting the table quite nicely for the Yankees’ sluggers behind him.

The Athletic | Amy Cuddy: ($) Baseball players are a superstitious bunch, and there’s no shortage of stories of weird rituals that escape the confines of the clubhouse — like, for example, Jason Giambi’s lucky gold thong. Here, Cuddy, a social psychologist, sheds some light on why baseball’s characteristics make the sport uniquely conducive to ritualistic behavior, and argues based on neuroscience that rituals may actually help hitters perform.

The Los Angeles Dodgers won't go wire-to-wire in the National League West - nor will they in USA TODAY Sports' power rankings.

The preseason No. 1 club may very well win a third consecutive championship this autumn but for now, they've been dislodged from the top spot for the first time this season by the Atlanta Braves.

The passing of the torch came head-to-head, as Atlanta won two of three games at Dodger Stadium and improve to a major league-best 28-13. Their plus-87 run differential is also tops in the majors, and they also lead in OPS and ERA.

Uh, any questions?

The Braves' newfound position will be tested immediately, as they return home for a three-game series against the No. 3 Chicago Cubs, beginning Tuesday, May 10 at Truist Field.

A look at our updated rankings:

1. Atlanta Braves (+1)

• Spencer Strider punches out eight Dodgers in second start of year.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (-1)

• Mookie Betts is back this week, not a moment too soon for flaccid offense.

3. Chicago Cubs (+1)

• Have the Cubs rescued Michael Conforto? Batting .364 with 1.132 OPS in 55 plate appearances.

4. Tampa Bay Rays (+2)

• Nick Martinez's 1.70 ERA is best in club history through eight games for a starter.

5. New York Yankees (-2)

• Carlos Rodón makes season debut, but can't prevent unsettling sweep at Milwaukee.

6. San Diego Padres (-1)

• A quarter through the season, Fernando Tatis Jr. at 0.0 WAR and zero home runs.

7. Milwaukee Brewers (+3)

• Sweep the Yankees for first time since they were an AL team - in 1989.