Blue Jays-O's postponed; twin bill Wednesday

October 4th, 2022

BALTIMORE -- With rain in the forecast through another cold night in Baltimore, Tuesday’s game between the Blue Jays and Orioles has been postponed.

The two sides will instead play a traditional doubleheader on Wednesday at Camden Yards beginning at 12:35 p.m. ET, getting the full 162 games in on the season's final day. The games will have no impact on the final standings, though, as the Blue Jays have already clinched the top AL Wild Card spot and the O's have been eliminated from postseason contention.

This doesn’t present an ideal scenario for the Blue Jays by any means after they ensured home-field advantage for the Wild Card Series with Monday’s 5-1 win to open the series. This rainout now acts as a partial “off-day” for the club’s regulars, but navigating 18 innings on the final day of the season is a challenge they weren’t necessarily expecting.

The Orioles will start Mike Baumann in Game 1 of the doubleheader, with Spenser Watkins in Game 2. The Blue Jays haven’t made their plans official just yet, but you can expect them to slide Mitch White -- Tuesday’s scheduled starter -- back one day. Yusei Kikuchi is also an option for the final day of the season, and the Blue Jays will surely ask each to eat as many innings as they can to save the bullpen. Adding another multi-inning arm as the 29th man would be sensible.

Toronto is set for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series at Rogers Centre on Friday, and while the time hasn’t been announced, you can expect to see Alek Manoah on the mound against either the Mariners or Rays. A win in the Wild Card Series would send the Blue Jays to Houston for the AL Division Series to play the Astros, who lead the AL with 104 wins entering Tuesday.

Baltimore fell short of the third and final Wild Card spot, entering Tuesday four games back of the Rays with an 82-78 record, but the Orioles developed into one of the better stories in MLB this season coming off a 52-110 record in 2021. This season saw the O's pivot to a young core of top prospects, much like the Blue Jays did in 2019, setting them up as a legitimate threat in this race next season.

Following Wednesday’s doubleheader, the Blue Jays will fly back to Toronto ahead of Thursday’s scheduled workout day.

Fans with tickets to Tuesday's postponed game can visit Orioles.com/weather for information regarding exchanges.