O’s On Top?! Don’t Look Down

My struggle to cope with success after years of rooting for a losing team.

Kids Day at Camden Yards: Adley Rutschman, 25, (left) and Gunner Henderson, 22, have sparked the Orioles’ comeback this season.

Faithful readers of this column may recall that in recent years I have lovingly mocked the Baltimore Orioles, the team I have rooted for all my life, for setting records in ineptitude. They lost at least 108 games in each of the three full seasons from 2018 through 2021, when they were the worst team in the Major Leagues. That’s the year the happy-go-nowhere O’s finished 39 games out of … not first place in the American League East but fourth place. (And there are only five teams in the division.)

Embodying the O’s woes, Chris Davis, a former All-Star slugger, has the dubious distinction of setting the Major League record for most consecutive at-bats without a hit – 0 for 54 in 2019. But don’t feel too sorry for him. Though he retired in 2021, he’ll still be making tens of millions of dollars owed him on his contract until 2037.

I used to tell my friends the Orioles’ longest winning streak in those years was 6 … innings. And that they played in their own league, but not the Major Leagues.

But all that has changed this season. The Birds are flying high. As of this writing, they are no longer playing in the Oblivion League but have the best record in the American League and second-best in the Majors – led by a few unknowns who look too young to shave. 

Suddenly, the baseball world has noticed that not only does Baltimore have a great ballpark, Camden Yards, but a team that plays baseball there. In the last two weeks, paeans of praise were published in The Wall Street Journal (“Birds Are Real! The Baltimore Orioles Are Soaring”) and The New York Times (“A New Generation Of Oriole Magic”).

So why, dear reader, am I having such a hard time dealing with this magical season?

When the O’s were awful, I didn’t expect them to win, so the occasional victories were a nice surprise. I managed to take pleasure in seeing the infield turn a slick double play, a pitcher get a few strike-outs, or a hitter have a productive at-bat (which for the Orioles meant fouling off a few pitches before striking out). 

But I found other evening entertainment and slept well at night. And by July 4, when the O’s had been practically, if not mathematically, eliminated from the post-season, I caught up on my reading, and finally got around to writing those thank-you notes from my bar mitzvah. I was pretty mellow.

But not this year. Hooked on watching almost every Oriole game with a pit in my stomach and frequent palpitations – the Orioles have played more than three dozen one-run games so far – I find myself muttering to the TV, staying up late to watch West Coast games, exchanging worried texts about the game with my older son, and having trouble sleeping.

In recent years, the outcome of Oriole games just didn’t mean much. Now every pitch is crucial and I feel it in my kishkes.

So the Birds are chirping and I’m a bit of a wreck. 

Birds are chirping: Wearing an O’s cap in New York in recent years invoked blank stares or a bit of sympathy. This year there’s more respect.

To be clear, I’m not complaining, believe me. Maybe kvetching a little, but I love watching these fresh-from-the-Minors guys have fun knocking off the rival teams with famous stars and huge contracts. The Orioles payroll is $60 million, which according to USA Today, ranks 29th out of 30 teams. The Mets and Yankees may lead the pack in salaries – $350 million and $275 million, respectively (and obscenely) – but they lag far behind in the standings.

This Orioles nucleus is the result of a long, painful but vital strategy to rebuild from within the team’s minor league farm system. And the results show that it takes more than money, and quick fixes, to be a winner. So O’s fans suffered through the lean years with various degrees of patience – mostly not much – and saw a first glimmer of hope last season. That’s when two key investments in the team’s future, 24-year-old catcher Adley Rutschman and 21-year-old infielder Gunner Henderson, were brought up from the Minors and helped spark the team’s first winning season since 2016.

This spring there was talk about the 2023 team being serious contenders. But based on my Jewish genes and pedigree as a long-suffering Baltimore fan, I resisted the optimistic impulse. After the Orioles won Game 1 of the season, my son and I decided to clip and save a copy of the next day’s standings in the paper that showed our team in first place, 1-0. We figured that might be the only day the Baby Birds could claim sole possession. 

But they kept on winning. And winning. And me? Sad to admit, I’m getting greedy. Not yet like those Yankee fans who think if the team doesn’t bring home a championship every year, the season’s a bust. But I would have settled for another winning season. Now, though, I know I’ll be crushed if the Orioles don’t make the playoffs. Or move on to the AL championship series. And who knows, maybe a World Series in Baltimore.

The third and last time the Orioles were World Champions was in 1983, and Cal Ripken was a rookie. That’s 40 years of wandering in the baseball wilderness, longing to reach the Promised Land. (A popular t-shirt Oriole fans are wearing these days proclaims, “Party Like It’s 1983!”)

It’s still a longshot, but hey, we’re a people that believe in miracles, right?

I think it was Teddy Herzl, a utility infielder for the Zanesville Zionists back around the turn of the 20th century, who said, “If you will it, it is not a dream.”