TT: It's still a great time to be an Orioles fan

[MDK02]

Thanks, Tony. I needed some perspective. The future is bright, no question. The worse part of losing this series is we can’t watch our team play for a while.

[scbalt52]

Good take, Tony. It's a nice short read with a sour taste in our mouths still but with a lot to look forward to. Very interesting off-season ahead and one where I do truly believe we will 'feel' the aggressiveness more. Don't get me wrong, we're not going to go nuts and out and get Ohtani, Snell, make huge trades, multiple big FA's, etc. but I look for 1 significant trade, a solid FA signing, and some bullpen help. What those moves will be exactly, who knows.

 

A lot of decisions are ahead and for the first time in my life (30 years) I have confidence in the front office handling them. I won't blindly support anything they do but I feel comfortable. To do what we did the last 2 years while graduating significant pieces the #1 farm system...and to STILL HAVE the #1 farm system is really exciting. There will be some new faces next year but the faces of old (mostly young guys ) will be ready to roll and have this experience now.

 

Damn, I had a lot of fun this year.

Edited October 11, 2023 by scbalt52

[now]

Another consolation is that in a sense, the Orioles this year were successful at playing quasi-playoff baseball for a full month to end the season. It's kind of like in the shorter playoffs of previous years, the real intensity was the LCS, just to get to the World Series. Now the real intensity is to make the playoffs and, as in days of old, "win the pennant." To me it feels like the O's reached that pinnacle of success in winning the last two games of that final Tampa series.

[Sports Guy]

As I get older, the losses hurt less. I also think knowing that this is just the beginning (hopefully at least) helps too.

[NCRaven]

Sometimes you need to go through '79 to get to '83.  Just hope it doesn't take 4 years this time. 

 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

12 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Sometimes you need to go through '79 to get to '83.  Just hope it doesn't take 4 years this time. 

 

Well things are a bit different now the 1980 and 1982 Orioles make the wild card under the current playoff format and who knows what happens once the postseason starts.

I don't know how MLB would handle a 1981 like strike season today, but that team also might have made the playoffs.

Edited October 11, 2023 by OsFanSinceThe80s

[oriolediehard]

l am very happy with the O's this season. They exceeded  my expectations, winning 101 games in the toughest division in the MLB. As far as the playoffs, any team can get hot in a short series. The Dodgers won 100 games and are 1 loss away from elimination from a less than or just over 10 games over .500 team. I wish all of us could write emails to John Angelos and try to ask him to spend the money needed to get better players, if I knew the email address I would write to him. If enough fans show our concern he may surprise us.

[Tony-OH]

37 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

As I get older, the losses hurt less. I also think knowing that this is just the beginning (hopefully at least) helps too.

That's what made this year a little easier for me than 2014. I could sense 2014 was kind of a a lightning in the bottle moment. Sure, the team could be good the next few years, but besides Manny and Schoop, no one was under the age of 28 in the lineup. On the pitching staff, the only major contributors under 27 were Chris Tillman and Zach Britton.

Cruz and Markakis were pending free agents, and the system had no hitters ready to contribute at the major league level any time soon and Mike Wright was the best upper level pitching prospects in the system at the time after trading Rodriguez.

This just feels much, much different.

[Too Tall]

Frobby mentioned in another thread, this feels so much like the years leading up to 1966. It IS a great time to be an Oriole fan and my biggest wish is that you youngens can experience what us old dudes did in the 60's through 83. Watching young players develop is, to me anyway, as much fun as winning. When you have both, as we do, feel blessed!

[Il BuonO]

7 hours ago, Uli2001 said:

The playoff loss will be felt until the playoffs are over. After that, fans will get over it and start looking forward to next season.

 I'm not waiting for the playoffs to be over.

[Malike]

It's still a great time? The great time is just starting

[waroriole]

10 hours ago, DirtyBird said:

Unfortunately, we will take a major step back. Some veterans will be gone, the clubhouse chemistry will not be the same and there will be dependence on too many young prospects who won't live up to the hype. We will see the same trajectory of the '20 - '23 Chicago White Sox.

There really should be an eye roll down vote. 

[Malike]

3 hours ago, Il BuonO said:

 I'm not waiting for the playoffs to be over.

Same, I was literally over it the minute the game ended. It's a game. I couldn't imagine stewing over this for several more weeks.

[DocJJ]

I plan to be Butt Hurt for a while....

 

We play in the most difficult division in the sport.  The Yankees will spend another Billion dollars and put themselves back in World Series contention like they do every year. Tampa will always be in the hunt.  The Jays and even the Red Sox have rebuilt themselves and will be sniffing the post season....

 

The Rangers spent a gazillion dollars and brought in Seager, Scherzer, Chapman, Semien, DeGrom, Evoldi, Perez- showing that you can purchase playoff appearances and titles like a commodity...

Meanwhile, Angelos will force Elias to pick through the bargain basement bin for spare parts like always... And we need 2 Starting pitchers and a closer...

 

While there is a lot to look forward to as an Oriole fan, you never know what the future may bring and I plan to be sore for a while that we did not capitalize on this opportunity....

 

[DirtyBird]

14 minutes ago, DocJJ said:

I plan to be Butt Hurt for a while....

 

We play in the most difficult division in the sport. 

 

The most overrated division in the sport