american league championship series

With the loss of Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz, the Baltimore Orioles need to find two corner outfielders

Nick Markakis on Wednesday agreed to terms on a four-year, $44 million deal with the Atlanta Braves, according to industry sources.

Nelson Cruz agreed to terms Monday with the Seattle Mariners on a four-year, $57 million deal plus a $1 million signing bonus. The deal is pending a physical, which Cruz is expected to take this week.

The Orioles made "very significant donations" to the LUNGevity Foundation and the estate of Monica Barlow.

The Orioles postseason drive fell short of the World Series, but players will still be rewarded with hefty playoff shares for advancing to the American League Championship Series.

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis broke his silence about his 25-game suspension for a failed drug test when he touched on the subject in an interview this week with a local Christian radio station.

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette appeared on MLB Network's "High Heat" with Christopher Russo on Wednesday afternoon from the general managers' meetings in Phoenix and addressed the club's hopes to retain free agents Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz.

When Tommy Hunter received a call about two weeks ago inviting him to play on a team of major leaguers in the All-Star Series exhibition this month in Japan, the Orioles relief pitcher said the choice was easy.

No one should be surprised that center fielder Adam Jones, shortstop J.J. Hardy and right fielder Nick Markakis were honored with Rawlings Gold Glove Awards for their defensive excellence during the 2014 season. They all contributed mightily to the strong team defense that helped the Orioles win the American League East title and advance to the American League Championship Series.

Chen, 29, will make $4.75 million in 2015, an increase from $4.072 million in 2014, when he went 16-6 with a 3.54 ERA in 31 starts for the Orioles.

The Royals and Giants are tied at 1-1. Who wins?

Stan Ber's Bits & Pieces column for the week of Oct. 23

Just 172 days to Opening Day

Here are five things the Orioles can do between now and Opening Day, April 6, to keep the 2015 season alive throughout October.

Most players has already cleared out of the Orioles clubhouse by Friday afternoon when reporters were allowed inside. The team arrived home from Kansas City ¿ swept by the Royals on four games in the American League Championship Series -- on Thursday evening so most players packed up their lockers then.

Manager Buck Showalter and executive vice president Dan Duquette plan to meet, along with team brass, to begin looking to next season. Pitchers and catchers are slated to return for spring training three months from Saturday, and the Orioles face many difficult roster decisions in the meantime.

Despite season-ending injuries to shortstop Manny Machado and catcher Matt Wieters and the late-season suspension of first baseman Chris Davis, this Orioles season's biggest disappointment had to be right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez.

After the Orioles were swept by the Kansas City Royals this week, Lee Corrigan said he was "relieved" the Baltimore Running Festival finish wouldn't have to be altered. That doesn't mean he wouldn't want to change it in the future.

As the Orioles prepared to leave the visitors' clubhouse Wednesday night after being swept in the American League Championship Series, they understood the harsh reality of today's industry: This group, in its entirety, will never again be together as a team.

Baseball in October can be cruel, as Orioles fans can now attest, and other stuff to think about while crying in our beer

As the Orioles' season ended in Kansas City on Wednesday, there was a lot of reflecting on the series and the season in the visiting clubhouse of Kauffman Stadium.

In Anaheim, Calif., and Baltimore, the Royals flexed their muscles knocking the ball over the wall. In Kansas City, they returned to their seasonlong identity of manufacturing runs.

After the Orioles' season ended Wednesday, Buck Showalter's words were slow and his eyes were glassy when describing the feeling of coming so close to bringing the World Series to Baltimore for the first time in 31 years.

The Orioles' "We Won't Stop" season finally came to a screeching halt Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium when the won't-be-beat Kansas City Royals won another nailbiter, 2-1, in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

Cycling between hope and dread, Orioles fans watch their magical team collapse in the face of an apparently even more magical ones, the Kansas City Royals who now head to the World Series

After the Orioles' season-ending 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday, outfielder Nelson Cruz realized he might have played his final game in an Orioles uniform.

The Orioles' 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday ensured Baltimore marathon participants would finish their race with the downhill jaunt down Eutaw Street and through Camden Yards that veteran runners are accustomed to.

Baltimore Sun columnist Peter Schmuck looks at several key moments from Game 4 of the American League Championship Series.

Baltimore Sun reporters, columnists and editors share their immediate thoughts on Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the Orioles and the Kansas City Royals.

With the Orioles on the brink of elimination, the American League Championship Series took a bizarre turn when a player called a news conference before Wednesday's Game 4 so he could apologize for the T-shirt he wore while talking to the media the night before.

The Orioles haven't used Delmon Young to pinch hit in close games recently.

The shirt Jeremy Guthrie wore to his postgame press conference Tuesday sparked outrage from Orioles' fans.

It will come down to Orioles right-hander Miguel Gonzalez against the Kansas City Royals in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday.

The Royals haven't lost in the postseason, and they take a 3-0 ALCS lead by doing everying right

It was windy and cool Tuesday night for Game 3 as the Kansas City Royals handed the Orioles a devastating 2-1 loss to take a 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

With the Orioles' playoff future hanging in the balance, the club could have used just a little more out of the Taiwanese left-hander. And Wei-Yin Chen couldn't deliver in the sixth inning, handing a precarious situation over to rookie Kevin Gausman.

Baltimore Sun reporters, columnists and editors share their immediate reaction to Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Orioles and the Kansas City Royals.

Baltimore Sun columnist Peter Schmuck shares several key moments from Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday that right-hander Miguel Gonzalez would start Game 4 of the American League Championship Series on Wednesday, assuming he isn't needed in relief in Game 3.

As the Orioles play in the American League Championship Series, players say they're far more focused more on winning than any extra money they'll make for advancing in the postseason. But the share of postseason revenue that players split can be significant.

Unless things change dramatically, there will be a Game 3 of the American League Championship Series at Kauffman Stadium tonight after a rain out Monday.

Even if the Orioles end up losing to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series this week, there's a sense that the experience itself will help the club going forward -- especially for the younger players who didn't participate in the 2012 postseason.

The steady rain that postponed Game 3 of the American League Championship Series was just what the doctor ordered for an Orioles team that could use a little celestial intervention to cool off the sizzling Kansas City Royals.

The Orioles will have to wait another day to attempt to cut into the Kansas City Royals' 2-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

Maryland men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon and women's basketball coach Brenda Frese were in Baltimore on Monday, having breakfast with boosters and talking about their teams' upcoming first season in the Big Ten.

Heavy rain forecast through the night in Kansas City prompted Major League Baseball to postpone American League Championship Series Game 3 between the Orioles and Royals.