It’s October 2nd and this could be the last day of the year with an Orioles game. I would like it if this weren’t true. It’s marginally more fun than if the O’s had been bad and their last game was on September 29, but only marginally, and it’s hard to appreciate the margin now when the O’s have lost a disappointing Game 1 of the series and we have to beat ourselves up all convincing that the offense will wake up in time to prevent another hasty postseason exit.

One thing that will likely be important if the Orioles want to extend the season at least one more day is that their stars emerge. In Game 1, the quartet of All-Star hitters, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Anthony Santander and Adley Rutschman combined to go 1-15, with one walk thrown in. Those were four of the five top hitters in the lineup and they didn’t do much. It’s a hard way to win.

Guess what? They are once again among the top five of the line-up! This is pretty much the only choice the Orioles have. Put their best players at the top and hope they pull through. The only guy I agree there’s more evidence to try something different is Rutschman, as he’s been struggling for about three months and should maybe be even lower in the lineup than him. But the O’s, who insist he is not injured in any way, remain with him in the middle of the order.

We all know it was a struggle for the Orioles in September, and it was always going to be tough to expect that to suddenly change once the postseason started. The Royals also struggled in September, even worse than the O’s. Kansas City can’t even point to a turnaround in the final week of the regular season. Their offense was brutal all month long. It was brutal yesterday too, except for one at-bat by Witt. So here we are.

It would be nice if the Orioles could give us something to be excited about for a while, instead of things immediately sinking into fear and resignation.

Orioles lineup

1. Gunnar Henderson SS
2. Jordan Westburg – 2B
3. Anthony Santander RF
4. Colton Cowser-LF
5. Adley Rutschman-C
6. Ryan O’Hearn-DH
7. Ryan Mountcastle-1B
8. Carlo Mullins – CF
9. Ramón Urías – 3B

It would be really nice if the Orioles can somehow duplicate Zach Eflin or come close to the results Corbin Burnes achieved in Game 1. That should have been enough for the Orioles to win yesterday and it should should be enough to win today. Eflin had a 2.60 ERA in nine starts with the O’s. Those are great results. The Royals offense has also declined.

Royals lineup

1. Michael Massey-2B
2. Bobby Witt Jr. – SS
3. Vinnie Pasquantino-DH
4. Salvador Perez-C
5. Yuli Gurriel – 1B
6. MJ Melendez-LF
7. Hunter Renfroe – RF
8. Kyle Isabel CF
9. Maikel García – 3B

The Orioles lineup should be better than this lineup. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good pitcher going for the other team or not. Yesterday’s Cole Ragans was a good pitcher and so is today’s Seth Lugo. The bottom line is that the O’s have to find a way to do something, and if they can’t, it will be a quick end to another disappointing October experience for the team and for us.