Empowering his roster through a high-stakes wildcard race, the skipper balances statistical matchups with gut-instinct plays.
Craig Albernaz has spent the final weeks of the Baltimore Orioles’ season managing games where every decision seems to carry a little more weight. What stood out Friday was how often those decisions came back to one thing: trusting the players to make them.
The clearest example came in the seventh inning, when Samuel Basallo approached Albernaz before his at-bat with runners on first and second.
Basallo wanted to bunt, and Albernaz didn’t talk him out of it.
“He came up to me when Coby was on second base, and he was like, ‘Hey, if it’s first and second, can I bunt?’ I said, ‘Absolutely,’” Albernaz told reporters postgame via MASN.
It was an unusual decision for Basallo, who rarely bunts, but the matchup gave Albernaz enough reason to go along with it. Milwaukee had a left-hander on the mound, and Basallo had already put together a productive team at-bat earlier in the game by moving a runner to third.
The bunt attempts didn’t work, and Baltimore eventually came away empty-handed in the inning. Still, Albernaz’s explanation afterward was less about the result than the willingness behind the decision.
“If our players want to give up themselves for the team in first and second, I’m always for it,” Albernaz said.
That philosophy showed up again in the 10th, although this time Albernaz and the Orioles reached the opposite conclusion.
With Baltimore playing at home and trailing by one, Jeremiah Jackson came up without attempting to bunt. Albernaz said the Orioles discussed the situation and ultimately preferred Jackson swinging because they liked the matchup.
“Playing for the tie, that’s always the decision as the home team,” Albernaz said. “We felt more comfortable with J.J. swinging than getting the bunt down.”
The Orioles went down in order, and the decision never had a chance to work. But the two situations together offered a better look at how Albernaz is handling a team with almost no margin left.
He isn't simply dictating every move from the dugout. He is leaving room for players to bring ideas to him, then weighing those ideas against the matchup and the situation.
That matters with eight games left in the regular season and three games out of the final American League Wild Card spot after Friday. The 6-5 loss to Milwaukee kept the Orioles in the same position, but it also reinforced how quickly the remaining opportunities are disappearing.
Albernaz acknowledged that urgency afterward, even while praising the way his team kept creating chances.
“Our guys have shown the resiliency all year and coming back,” he said, via MLB.com’s Jake Rill. “But also, we know where we’re at right now. We’ve got to win as many games as we can is an understatement.”
The loss still hurts. Albernaz made that clear.
But so did his approach. With the season narrowing around them, he appears comfortable giving his players a voice when the biggest decisions arrive.
