Orioles news: 70th player used ties MLB record

Hello, friends.

The Orioles have gone and done it. They’ve tied the major league record for players used in a single season. Last night’s relief appearance by Jose Espada, who joined the Orioles on a minor league contract at the end of July, got them up to 70 players. That ties a record set only last year by the Marlins, who also used 70. If I’ve counted right, there are six players who were part of both the 2024 Orioles and Marlins.

As for Saturday’s game itself, it was dumb. The Orioles lost, 6-1. Check out Alex Church’s recap of the game for the not-so-lovely totals.

There’s not really any way to better illustrate the chaos that the team has gone through this year that they have shuffled through so many players. One might say that some of this chaos is brought on by Mike Elias holding a near-fanatical desire to always be tinkering around the edges of the roster, and I don’t think one would be wrong about that. Of course, it’s also a function of how many players have gone onto the injured list through the season, as well as how many roster-locked players were traded away in July.

There are 34 different position players who have taken an at-bat for the Orioles in 2025, and 36 different pitchers who have pitched to at least one batter. (It’s actually 40 different pitchers, but four of them are position players who we’re not double-counting.) That’s how you get to a record-tying 70. For just one comparison, the AL East-leading Blue Jays have used 24 position players and 35 different pitchers. The Yankees have used only 20 position players while using 33 pitchers.

Without surveying the whole league’s picture here, one suggestion from this limited sample is that everybody’s pitching is chaotic to some degree, but what has really set apart the Orioles is how many different position players they’ve run through. That they were, at one point in the season, on their fifth- and sixth-string catchers at the same time, is one illustration of this, though certainly it’s not the only one. A lot of dudes who never would have been here in a better season have shuffled through.

Espada’s debut for the team could hardly have gone any better than it did. He tossed three scoreless innings in last night’s game, allowing just one hit while striking out four batters. We cannot rule out Elias, that aforementioned fanatic, rewarding Espada for this performance by optioning him to Triple-A Norfolk today in order to bring up a fresh reliever into the bullpen; three different relievers had to cover a combined six innings on Saturday.

It’s Kyle Bradish Day today in Birdland as the teams close out this four-game set. That’s been a good thing in his first four starts since returning from Tommy John surgery. Perhaps it will be a good thing again. Certainly it won’t hurt if the Orioles hitters are able to get their heads out of their figurative butts as they go up against rookie Cam Schlittler – a very unfortunate-if-mispronounced name – in the 1:35 game.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Trevor Rogers’ turnaround wasn’t easy. There’s a lesson in it for the Orioles. (The Baltimore Banner)
Jon Meoli’s explanation, in very broad terms, is that Rogers had to “rebuild his body” and “free his mind.” Yeah, don’t we all?

Is Dylan Beavers’s early MLB success providing a road map for future Orioles prospects? (Steve on Baseball)
Subscription required for the full article on Steve Melewski’s Substack. Let’s hope the answer to this question is yes. Need the road map to apply to some existing post-prospects too!

Dom Hamel claimed on waivers (School of Roch)
Contenders are still in play for the Orioles to get to #71.

Third base coach Buck Britton mastering the art of sending runners home (The Baltimore Sun)
What do you think, readers? How have the Orioles been doing between third and home in the last few months?

‘Selfless’ Westburg honored as Roberto Clemente Award nominee (Orioles.com)
This was announced earlier in the week, with honors being made more formally at home over this weekend series. Westburg has quietly been doing a lot of charitable work.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1971, Dave McNally pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees to get a 5-0 victory for the Orioles. This was McNally’s 20th win of the season, marking the fourth straight season he reached that number. McNally was the first Orioles pitcher to get to 20 wins that year; by season’s end, three more pitchers – Pat Dobson, Mike Cuellar, and Jim Palmer – joined him.

There is one lone former Oriole who was born on this day. Happy 39th to 2011-12 reliever Zach Phillips.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: novelist H.G. Wells (1866), composer Gustav Holst (1874), animator Chuck Jones (1912), actor Bill Murray (1950), and musician Faith Hill (1967).

On this day in history…

In 1170, an invasion by Anglo-Normans toppled the Kingdom of Dublin, which was itself a Viking-ruled territory.

In 1937, The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, was published for the first time. Fans, however, celebrate Hobbit Day on the 22nd, because this is the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

In 1981, the US Senate unanimously voted to confirm Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first woman to be a Supreme Court Justice. Four of the nine justices today are women.

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 21. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!

Orioles news: 70th player used ties MLB record

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