World Champions 1983, 1970, 1966 American League Champions 1983, 1979, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1966 American League East Division Champions 2014, 1997, 1983, 1979, 1974, 1973, 1971, 1970, 1969 American League Wild Card 2016, 2012, 1996 Tuesday, April 4, 2017 Game Stories: Schmuck: Orioles flip wild-card script on Blue Jays in opener The Sun 4/3 Mark Trumbo hits walk-off homer in 11th, Orioles beat Blue Jays, 3-2, on Opening Day The Sun 4/3 Extra, extra: Trumbo HR walks O's off vs. Jays MLB.com 4/3 Wrapping up a 3-2 11-inning win on opening day MASNsports.com 4/3 Mark Trumbo on his walk-off homer, plus other clubhouse quotes MASNsports.com 4/3 Mark Trumbo with a walk-off homer as O’s win in 11th MASNsports.com 4/3 Trumbo's 11th-inning homer lifts Orioles over Blue Jays 3-2 Associated Press 4/3 Mark Trumbo Ends Orioles' Opener In Spectacular Fashion PressBoxOnline.com 4/3 Trumbo’s 11th-Inning Homer Lifts Orioles Over Blue Jays 3-2 CBS Baltimore 4/3 Mark Trumbo lifts the O’s with the first walkoff homer of the MLB season FoxSports.com 4/3 Columns: Orioles' deep roster allows for in-game lineup transformation we saw Monday The Sun 4/4 Orioles' Manny Machado rolls wrist on spectacular play, says 'it's nothing' The Sun 4/3 Opening Day start for Orioles' Kevin Gausman equally tantalizing and frustrating The Sun 4/3 Blue Jays' Jose Bautista still good for boos from Orioles fans The Sun 4/3 Orioles closer Zach Britton finds form with two scoreless innings on Opening Day The Sun 4/3 Orioles Opening Day firsts and observations The Sun 4/3 Game-day experience: Eutaw Street brings the carnival to Camden Yards The Sun 4/3 On bended knee, Manny makes slick play MLB.com 4/3 Miley on track, set for sim game Tuesday MLB.com 4/3 Reflecting on an opening day win MASNsports.com 4/4 In first day as new O’s catcher, Welington Castillo played key role MASNsports.com 4/4 Zach Britton rewrites Orioles-Blue Jays rivalry ESPN.com 4/3 Watch Manny Machado's Highlight-Reel Play From Orioles Opening Day PressBoxOnline.com 4/4 Fans Celebrate O’s Opening Day Win CBS Baltimore 4/3 http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-schmuck-column-0404-20170403-story.html Schmuck: Orioles flip wild-card script on Blue Jays in opener By Peter Schmuck / The Baltimore Sun April 3, 2017 If the Orioles and their fans were looking for some kind of payback against a Toronto Blue Jays team that kicked them to the curb last October, Opening Day at Camden Yards could not have turned out much better. This time, it was the Orioles who celebrated at home plate after a dramatic walk-off home run in the 11th inning. This time, it was the Orioles bullpen that held serve in a game that was eerily similar to the wild-card showdown at Rogers Centre that ended with manager Buck Showalter getting pilloried by the national media for not using closer Zach Britton. What it wasn't, however, was a playoff game, something Orioles center fielder Adam Jones was quick to point out after the game. "There's one big difference between that game and this game," Jones said. "That was the last game of the season and this was the first. It's completely different." Point taken. This was not a playoff game and it certainly did not wipe away the ugly memory of that frustrating October night, but it was more proof of just how evenly matched the Orioles and Blue Jays have been over the past three seasons. "Both play to the last out," Jones added. "That's a tribute to the makeup of both teams." The numbers don't lie. Since the start of the 2014 season, the Orioles and Jays are 29-29 in regular-season head-to-head competition. The tiebreaker, unfortunately for the Orioles, was last year's playoff game and it will be a while before anybody around here forgets Edwin Encarnacion's dramatic, heartbreaking three-run homer off emergency reliever Ubaldo Jimenez. The score was the same throughout the late innings. In both games, Mark Trumbo hit a huge home run. In both games, the Orioles offense went to sleep for an extended period after taking a slim lead. In both games, a 2-2 tie hung precariously from inning to inning as the stress level went through the roof at Rogers Centre and through the rain clouds gathering ominously over Oriole Park. "They had a lot of similarities," Showalter said. "Actually had the same home plate umpire (Gary Cedarstrom), not that I remember. I'll shut up. It does certainly seem that way. Stay tuned. We've only got 18 more? 19? 17? I don't know what it is. I try not to look at it." There also were a few differences. Not only did Showalter use Britton in the game, he brought him in to start the ninth inning and left him in to pitch the 10th. In the wild-card game, Showalter did not turn to Britton in a jam in the ninth and then chose to use Jimenez in the 11th when he ran short of setup and middle relievers. No sense rehashing that now. It was discussed to death for several days afterward and certainly replayed more than a few times in the mind of one of baseball's best bullpen handlers. Showalter had his reasons, but he couldn't escape the most obvious narrative. There was one other big difference. Encarnacion is no longer with the Blue Jays, and their lineup did not seem quite so imposing without him or power-hitting designated hitter Michael Saunders, both of whom signed elsewhere. The Orioles, meanwhile, were able to bring back Trumbo, and he delivered big time on the first day playing under his new three-year, $37.5 million contract. In fact, all three of the Orioles' runs were driven in by the two big sluggers the team signed to rich contracts over the past two offseasons. Chris Davis drove in the first run of the game in the third inning with a shot off the right-field scoreboard. Trumbo came up right behind him and drove in the second with a double down the right-field line. From that point, the next 15 Orioles hitters went down in order and the O's managed just three hits over the 26 at-bats leading up to Trumbo's big blast. In the wild-card game, the Orioles managed just two singles in their last 24 at-bats. Showalter took a postgame question from a Toronto reporter, who asked if it was "weird" the way the two games seemed to line up. "Weird?" Showalter said. "I don't know if weird is the word. I'd say appropriate." http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-blue-jays-opening-day-20170403- story.html Mark Trumbo hits walk-off homer in 11th, Orioles beat Blue Jays, 3-2, on Opening Day By Eduardo A. Encina / The Baltimore Sun April 3, 2017 There’s no doubt that Opening Day is different from a normal summer game day, filled with buzz surrounding the beginning of a new season, but ultimately the game itself bears the same weight of any other. Still, as the Orioles’ season opener against the Toronto Blue Jays reached extra innings Monday, there was an echo of last October, when the Blue Jays ended the Orioles’ season in a wild-card game decided by one swing. This time, however, the Orioles were the team celebrating a walk-off victory, after newly re- signed slugger Mark Trumbo’s 11th-inning home run delivered a 3-2 win in front of a sellout crowd of 45,667 to kick off the silver anniversary season of Camden Yards. Even though this was just one victory, it carried a slightly different magnitude inside the Orioles clubhouse. “It’s important,” said Trumbo, who deposited a 1-2 slider from Blue Jays right-hander Jason Grilli into the left-field stands to end the game. “They’re all important. This is a division rival. There’s no secrets. We can’t let it slip away. You do what you can to battle.” The Orioles have won seven straight Opening Day games and 14 of their past 17 openers. “I’ll have the windows down going about 5 mph down Pratt [Street] today,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s great. It’s one of those days you reach back for and realize why this is why you do what you do. … Unfortunately, it doesn’t always cooperate with you on the scoreboard, but today it did.” The Orioles’ front office spent most of the offseason trying get more mileage out of its power- driven batting order. Despite an offense that led the majors in home runs last season, the Orioles were middle of the pack in runs scored (12th in the majors), mostly in part because of a team on- base percentage that ranked in the bottom third (21st). They focused on getting better on-base catalysts, and also tried to get better defensively at the corner outfield spots. But the team’s biggest and most substantial offseason priority was retaining Trumbo — who was coming off his best season, leading the majors with 47 homers — because he best fit what the Orioles have become, a team that will at the end of the day win and lose by the long ball.