On an otherwise almost entirely unremarkable Friday night against the Rockies, nearly to the end of what turned out to be the 80th of the 101 wins for the 2023 Orioles, Félix Bautista threw a pitch that went high and wide and was in pain after. He came out of the game immediately, no warm-up tosses, and we all had to fear what turned out to be true, that Bautista had a torn elbow ligament that would require Tommy John surgery.
With one pitch, it was all over. Though the Orioles worked Bautista through a throwing program in September in an attempt to see if he’d be able to pitch through the partial tear and help the team in the playoffs, that effort did not succeed.