Adley all smiles in run-up to electric ALDS

BALTIMORE -- It was a moment so unique that Adley Rutschman’s origin story would be incomplete without it.

As the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft took the field for his Major League debut on May 21, 2022, he was greeted with a standing ovation at Camden Yards. The heralded catcher found himself struck by the gravity of the moment as he was getting set behind home plate, making a 360-degree turn to take in the rousing support from every corner of the ballpark.

Then the Orioles’ top prospect and the No. 2 prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline, Rutschman had arrived. And with him came the hope that Baltimore would return to prominence after three straight 100-loss seasons in a full 162-game schedule.

That’s where the Orioles now find themselves, slotting in as the No. 1 seed in the American League after their first 100-win season since 1980.

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Less than 24 hours ahead of his postseason debut, which will come against the Rangers in Game 1 of the AL Division Series on Saturday afternoon at Camden Yards, the 25-year-old Rutschman was grinning from ear to ear.

“I’m super excited. This is a complete blessing, to have an opportunity like this to play postseason baseball with a great group of guys in this stadium with an electric atmosphere,” he said. “There’s nothing more you can really ask for. The opportunity to do something like this is amazing. You kind of cherish it.

“That’s why I’m smiling. And I just crushed a cold brew, so ...”

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The Orioles will hardly need a caffeine jolt as they host a postseason game for the first time since 2014, when they last won the AL East and went on to sweep the Tigers in the ALDS. When they last made the playoffs in ’16, the AL Wild Card Game -- in which they took a 5-2 walk-off loss to the Blue Jays in 11 innings -- was in Toronto.

Bringing postseason baseball back to Baltimore was always a goal.

“I’m really excited to see the crowd. I’ve heard that playoff baseball here is pretty cool,” Rutschman said. “I was talking to [pitching strategy coach] Ryan Klimek about it. He said he went to a postseason game here in 2014 and said the atmosphere was absolutely electric. So I’m really excited to see the fans and just to feel that excitement.”

The Orioles earned that right by virtue of staving off the 99-win Rays to win the division by two games, sealing home-field advantage as far as they advance this postseason save for a potential World Series date with the Braves, the only team that finished with a better record (104-58) than the 101-61 O’s.

Crucial to that effort was a four-game series split against the Rays at home from Sept. 14-17, which came after Baltimore dropped the first two contests. That response stood out to manager Brandon Hyde as a sign of how ready his young club is to handle this stage.

“We’ve played postseason-type games these last few weeks,” Hyde said. “It’s hard to hold on to a division lead. It’s hard to lose a couple of games, the first two games of a series against a team that’s trailing you, and win the next two. It’s not easy to do. For me, we showed a ton of character in those postseason-like atmospheres. …

“They rallied around each other, stayed together, didn’t drop their heads. There wasn’t any sort of negativity.”

That’s because of how tight-knit the Orioles have become as a team this season, a key ingredient to their success on the field, according to second-year right-hander Kyle Bradish, who was named the ALDS Game 1 starter on Friday.

“I think the best thing is, we’re all friends, having that bond in the clubhouse, the culture that Hyde and everybody else has created -- and then just the talent that we have on the team through the free agents that we brought in, the younger guys that came up,” he said. “I think you see a complete team that actually pulls for each other no matter what.”

Rutschman, the de facto leader of the O’s procession of top prospects reaching the big leagues, saw firsthand how close Baltimore was to contention given the caliber of players it had coming through the farm system. He said they talked about the “what-ifs,” and what the team would be able to do once they were all together.

“In Spring Training, we saw all that,” he said. “Guys were excited to get it going this year. The way we battled throughout the year is something special. I think we’re very proud of the way we handled the regular season. The guys are ready for the next step.”

That step starts Saturday.