Saturday night Orioles game thread: at Rangers, 8:05

The Orioles became interesting during another ho-hum loss on Friday night when they were suddenly swept up in a flurry of trade rumors and ultimately news. This figures to be all that would really make them interesting for the remainder of this series against the Rangers, as well.

The possibility of dealing Zach Britton or Brad Brach is still out there. Britton may need to pitch in both this game and tomorrow's game to prove his health to skeptical teams. We'll see if the Orioles indulge that regardless of the scoreboard. There will almost certainly be the chance for him to pitch, anyway. I think we can guess a Kevin Gausman complete game is not very likely in any case.

The Orioles are 6.5 games out of a wild card spot with six teams to pass and 60 games to play. We aren't far from the point where even discussing their position in the wild card standings is indulging a ridiculous fantasy. The Rangers, the team they're playing, are two games ahead of them in those wild card standings and appear to be willing to sell off any short-term asset.

Where does that leave the Orioles? If we're lucky, it will leave them doing things that will make us feel a little better about the idea of next season. Kevin Gausman, tonight's starting pitcher, turning his season around somewhat by season's end would be one thing to help with that. Maybe he can start that tonight... or at least not continue to extend the O's lead for worst starting rotation in the American League.