BALTIMORE — The pats on the back as they said goodbye within the Baltimore Orioles clubhouse were deafening, the official obituary for a team that has been playing dead for months.
This much is evident: the honeymoon is over.
When this group was eliminated from the American League Division Series by the eventual champion Texas Rangers last 12 months, the explanations seemed sound. They were young and inexperienced. They simply ran out of gas in October. There was dejection, but it surely was hard to get too upset a few team that had stunned the game with 101 wins and the AL East. Again and again, members of the team expressed variations of the identical phrase: “It was just the beginning of a long period of time for this young core.”
The window is there. And if the organization, from general manager Mike Elias to everyone, doesn't learn from its mistakes, it could collapse faster than anyone thought.
A brand new ownership group led by David Rubenstein will take a have a look at the corporate in its first full offseason, and the list of upgrades and to-dos is long. After a listless 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals that ought to send shockwaves through every corner of Camden Yards, it could be sensible for this front office to conduct its own autopsy.
“It all came crashing down sooner than anyone expected,” catcher James McCann said of an Orioles team with World Series expectations that was 20 games over .500 in the primary half of the season.
This isn't nearly Jordan Westburg's injury, but when Westburg broke his hand, the Orioles' offense took a nosedive in August and September. Nor is it concerning the alarming play of catcher Adleyrutschman, who’s either injured or has just played the higher a part of 4 months as a subpar offensive player.
And it's not nearly playing it protected on the trade deadline, although you could possibly actually start there. The Orioles were a .500 team within the second half of the season, and had Zach Eflin, Wednesday's starter, not been signed, the deadline may very well be considered an entire failure. It's the second season in a row that Elias and his group have opted to not make a giant splash, as a substitute retaining most of their top prospects and the fastidiously maintained farm system.
Maybe there weren't any major steps, but there have been other opportunities for an upgrade. One closer, Lucas Erceg, stared them within the face as he did his job for the Royals in each wild card games. Two others, Tanner Scott and Jason Adam of the San Diego Padres, were such significant bullpen upgrades that one wonders: How many games could they’ve modified for the Orioles? Courage can enliven a clubhouse. Playing it protected for the second 12 months in a row could be disappointing. “It's better than nothing,” a member of last 12 months's team wrote to me after the team acquired Jack Flaherty and Shintaro Fujinami, each busts, last July. But was that it?
Optics are essential. The dynamics within the clubhouse are essential. Experience counts. Especially within the off-season.
Kansas City, a small team, added 4 latest players on the deadline and added one other trio on waivers in August. Priority was given to veterans because knowledge of postseason experience was essential. Who on the Orioles team has the experience and courage to call a pregame meeting to light a hearth or keep things casual within the dugout? Veterans are essential, even in the event that they don't show up in large numbers.
Of course, the Orioles could have added Scott, Adam, Erceg and old Mariano Rivera on the deadline, but it surely still wouldn't have helped much against Kansas City. The O's lineup has looked confused and miserable the last two days. They hit pitches outside the zone, desperately attempting to hit a three-run home run with nobody on base. Perhaps the lasting image of this series is Colton Cowser striking out a ball that hit him within the fifth inning with the bases loaded. Had he kept his bat on his shoulders, the Orioles would have taken the lead.
The O's scored one run in your complete series, extending the organization's playoff losing streak to 10. They never led and had led by only one inning in five postseason games since last 12 months's win over Texas. These don't just feel like losses; they feel almost inevitable. That's what needs to vary.
O's became the fourth team to win ≥90 regular season games, reach the playoffs, and go winless within the playoffs in consecutive seasons. Brewers are about to hitch them.
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Cardinals 2021-22
2018-19 A
1969-70 twins@Stathead– Rob Daniels (@oriolesfactoids) October 3, 2024
“Last year we had a chance in Game 1, didn’t win, but then the next two kind of got out of control,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “This year it felt like there were two winnable games.”
The Orioles front office and coaches will spend a protracted time attempting to work out all the explanations they became a .500 team: injuries, lack of production, overconfidence of their young stars. Players will retreat to their offseason homes, red-eyed and shocked, wondering what might have been.
“For it to happen two years in a row is a tough pill to swallow,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who like a lot of his teammates had no answer for a way this team has slipped to date since July. For how your complete roster declined in runs per game, slugging percentage, OPS, and each other tangible metric over the course of the season.
Someone higher find these answers. Next 12 months, the Orioles won't have star player Corbin Burnes – who got here through the front office in a improbable trade last offseason – nor Anthony Santander, who hit a team-leading 44 home runs and can be headed to free agency. Those are big shoes to fill.
Make no mistake: This continues to be a talented young team. But never has an offseason felt more critical. There's never been a time to aggressively pursue upgrades and never waste one other 12 months on a young, controllable, low cost core.
Windows change. Injuries occur; Age of players. The Orioles don't even have to move out of the division to prove how quickly things can go improper. Just have a look at the Toronto Blue Jays.
The front office has proven it may well construct a minor league system and develop an enviable group of young big league talent. It did a fantastic job getting a company that was in a tricky spot back on its feet. Now it's time to work out tips on how to take the subsequent step.
Good isn’t any longer adequate. And it may well't be that it is going to just be October.
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