MLB notes: Nick Markakis savors long-awaited trip to playoffs

Nick Markakis endured the lean years with the Baltimore Orioles, suffering through one losing season after another during the worst stretch in franchise history.

If that wasn’t bad enough, when the Orioles finally turned things around in 2012, Markakis sat out the playoffs with a broken thumb.

Now, nine years into his major league career, the 30-year-old right fielder is getting his first taste of postseason baseball. No one on Baltimore’s current roster has spent more time with the team than Markakis, whose loyalty to the Orioles has never wavered since they made him their first-round pick in the 2003 draft.

Even after Baltimore went 70-92, 69-93 and 68-93 in his first three major league seasons, Markakis remained confident he would ultimately reach the playoffs with the Orioles.

So he signed a six-year extension in 2009 during Baltimore’s miserable run of 14 straight losing seasons.

“In the past, judging by the development and the direction the team was going, I knew it was just a matter of time,” Markakis said.

Using deft moves by executive vice president Dan Duquette and the guidance of manager Buck Showalter, the Orioles are in the A.L. Championship Series for the first time since 1997. When he signed in 2009, it was with the notion that he would spend his entire career in Baltimore.

“High risk, high reward. It was a good decision on my part,” Markakis said. “I knew what this city was capable of doing and it paid off. I’m enjoying this.”

Clearing the bases

Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett, facing surgery for a torn labrum in his left hip, retired at 34. … Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd and senior vice president Bill Geivett are leaving the team after a fourth straight losing season. Jeff Bridich is taking over as the new GM.