Sometimes, the baseball gods just don't smile down upon you.
Baltimore's season came to a brutal end in extra innings, as Edwin Encarnacion's three-run blast off Ubaldo Jimenez in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-2 victory over the Orioles, who are now 2-8 in their last 10 playoff games dating back to 2012.
It was a puzzling move for manager Buck Showalter to not turn to his All-World closer, Zach Britton, who he confirmed in his postgame press conference was indeed available, via Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com. Perhaps things would have worked out differently for the Orioles if he had.
But Britton and most of his teammates will be back at it again in 2017, though there will certainly be some changes to the roster before Opening Day.
What follows is an overview of some of the decisions that the team will have to make—and some of the players they may look to—in order to bolster the roster for a return trip to the postseason, and perhaps the Fall Classic, in 2017.
- Login to post comments