The Orioles and Red Sox moved their April 25 game from 4:05 p.m. to 12:05 p.m. ET because rain was expected later in the day, turning the clubs’ first AL East divisional series of 2026 into a noon start at Camden Yards. Both teams and the league agreed to the change.
For Baltimore, the early first pitch came after a homer-fueled win the night before and amid a chance to stack another victory on top of it. The Orioles were trying to get back above.500, something they had not done again after opening 2025 with a 3-2 record and then slipping below the line for good.
That was the weight on a game that otherwise looked like a routine April matchup. The Red Sox arrived in Baltimore for a three-game set as a struggling team, and Garrett Crochet’s first year in a five-year, $170 million contract had not gone smoothly. Through five starts, he carried a 7.88 ERA and a.368 BABIP, numbers that helped explain why the matchup felt like a chance for Baltimore to press an advantage.
The Orioles answered with Trevor Rogers on the mound and a lineup they described as an “OK, we’re facing a lefty today” group. The club said the only totally out-of-position player in that alignment was Alexander in left field, a reminder that the lineup was built as much around the opposing starter as around the weather.
That is what made the rain delay matter on a day like this: it did not just change the first pitch, it changed the rhythm of a series Baltimore wanted to own from the start. The Orioles opened their first division test of 2026 against a Red Sox club that was already coming in under pressure, and they had a simple goal in front of them — turn one good night into two and avoid reliving the slow drift that followed their early 2025 start.
