Living on the edge takes being patient, positive

players into the season, but also the character that has made Wilson such a trusted and relied-upon swingman for the club since he debuted in 2015.

“It’s impossible to predict, and it’s something that I’ve done for the last couple of years,” Wilson said. “And it is what it is. It’s part of the game and I can’t control that. Like I’ve said time and time again, I come to the game time and time again, excited to be here and improve in any way I can and help the ballclub in any way I can.

“As far as living arrangements and where Chelsea and I are going to be, we both trust in a plan that’s greater than our own and trust and know that we’re cared for, and everything is a lot bigger than where we’re playing baseball and where we’re living on a given day.”

An understanding companion has made balancing life at the ballpark and life away from it easier. Chelsea played basketball at their alma mater, Virginia, and is used to the athlete’s lifestyle.

In years past, they lived apart during the season. Wilson was fortunate to have a family friend with a condo near Camden Yards when he was up with the big club, so he stayed there and would host his wife when the schedules aligned. Otherwise, she stayed at their home in Charlottesville. This year, she left her job with the Virginia Athletics Foundation, and her permanent job as a women’s basketball analyst means they’re spending the whole year together.

Where they’d call home was in question until very late in the spring, so they made early plans for both Norfolk and Baltimore for when camp broke.

He found out Thursday, March 30, that he’d be opening the season in Baltimore the following Monday. That day, the coaching staff told him he’d be one of the many pitchers to stay in Sarasota, Fla., to pitch one last time there before coming north. He used the union-mandated day off Saturday to go to his offseason home in Charlottesville and gather what he needed to be in Baltimore on Sunday.

Then began a process that anyone in any profession can relate to — settling into work and establishing your life away from it in mere days. While Tyler was at the ballpark for a team workout Sunday, Chelsea bopped around the city looking for their new home. The requirements weren’t many, but it still wasn’t easy, with the addition of golden retriever Lacy into the equation. By Tuesday, they had everything decided.

“Pet-friendly really limits your options, but we found a place that we’re really comfortable in,” Wilson said. “We want a little extra space, and mainly it’s just that. A comfortable area where Chelsea was happy, and somewhere for Lacy to run around — that there’s grass nearby and some of the little stuff. We’re pretty — simpleton is not the word, but minimalists. We really just need one another and a place that’s serviceably large enough to handle us.”

That it’s just 10 minutes from the park makes the work equation easier for him, too. There’s only so much routine you can get into when half of the season is spent on the road, but Wilson said they’re already in the process of finding the important things on their grid. Breakfast is a sacred meal, and they’re mapping out the coffee spots and late-night meal offerings.

The uncertainty that painted the spring hasn’t gone away, though. Wilson pitched well in his inning on Opening Day, but having minor league options in an organization that values them over nearly anything else means giving up your professional fate to the team. The Orioles need two roster spots to add starting pitchers in the next week, and Wilson is one of several players whose options could be used against them.

Wilson’s friends in the clubhouse look at how he handles all the uncertainty that comes with being in his situation and can only admire it. As someone who now has options of his own the team could use this season, outfielder Joey Rickard says there’s a lot to take away from Wilson’s approach for any player.

“It just says a lot about his character — how he came up,” Rickard said. “He never panics. He always has a plan. He’s always prepared for the highs and the lows, which I think just being around him, I try and take some of that. Hopefully part of him will rub off on me a little bit.”

Part of that steadiness, it seems, comes from Wilson’s sound understanding of his life off the field. He’s not the only one affected by the organization’s choices for where he pitches, but he knows any trips on the proverbial Norfolk shuttle won’t be made alone.

“Chelsea and I have been really fortunate to have been going through it for seven years now together, minor leagues apart and making weekends work as she pursued her career,” Wilson said. “The level of support she’s always given me is what made this a possibility. If she wasn’t as committed to this dream and this career as I was, we wouldn’t be doing it, because ultimately my marriage is most important.

“So she has been a saint through it all, and we’ve been really fortunate to have an approach that we just trust in a plan that’s greater than our own, and we trust that we’re going to be where we’re supposed to be. And as long as we can try and hold things with an open hand, our happiness will take care of itself. Everything else has fallen into place.”