Orioles' Wild Card opponent set as American League playoff bracket becomes official

The Orioles ended the 2024 MLB season on a high note, sweeping the Twins in Minnesota to finish the year at 91-71. While they weren't able to capture their second straight AL East title, the O's were able to lock down the 4 seed and secure home field advantage in the Wild Card round.

Starting Tuesday, the Orioles will take on the Kansas City Royals for a best of 3 series. The Birds went 4-2 against the Royals this year, outscoring KC 29-27 across 6 games. The Royals will pose a unique challenge for the Orioles. The starting rotation in KC is strong, consisting of Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Brady Singer.

The Royals rotation was the second best in the league this year by Fangraphs WAR. The group pitched to a combined 3.56 ERA and their 23.2% strikeout rate was a top 10 figure. Their bullpen wasn't quite as strong as a whole but Lucas Erceg is pitching about as well as anyone else out there at the moment and could be a catalyst for the Royals this week.

Orioles set to take on Royals in AL Wild Card series

The offense is the Royals' weak spot. Outside of MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr., there aren't many threats in the KC lineup each night. Salvador Perez is having a good year and if Vinny Pasquantino is ready to go, he's always a threat to go deep. But the back half of this Royals lineup is a dead zone, bogged down by poor hitters in Hunter Renfroe, Paul DeJong, MJ Melendez, and the like.

The Orioles should be able to keep the Royals off the board, or at the very least keep their run totals low. The x factor for Baltimore will be whether the group of Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, and Adley Rutschman can bring the Orioles offense to life. It'll be a tough task but this group is hopefully up to it.

The league office released the full Wild Card schedule, including game start times on Sunday night. The Orioles are locked into the 4 PM window for all three games, assuming a third game is necessary.

Orioles vs. Royals Wild Card schedule & start times

• Game 1: Tuesday 10/1, first pitch 4:08 PM EST
• Game 2: Wednesday 10/2, first pitch 4:38 PM EST
• Game 3: Thursday 10/3 (if necessary), first pitch 4:08 PM EST

Being the only one of four Wild Card series in the eastern time zone, it's a little surprising the league office didn't put this one in the early slot. However, they decided to run with the Astros vs. Tigers series in the 2 PM slot, with the Brewers and Padres series' (opponents yet to be determined) taking up the later time slots.