I love this team, I love the Orioles

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

I’ve been in a mild state of sports depression since Wednesday. Angry and disappointed at what felt like, for me personally, the worst Orioles loss of my life time.

But as I drove up to my house today, I looked at my Orioles flag, and I felt love. Love for the Orioles and love for the guys on this team.

I remember getting a little emotional in 2018 when the previous core got blown up. I wondered if I’d be as invested with a new cropping of players.

Well dammit, I ride with these dudes. They’ve ripped my heart out, but I believe in them. They’re young, they’re talented, and they play for each other. Growth is often not linear.

Maybe Hyde can adjust, maybe he can’t. There’s plenty of questions now.

It’s going to be long wait. And I have no idea if this team capitalizes on their potential. But I’ll be rooting for it.

Because I love Baltimore, I love the Orioles, and I love these guys.

I still don’t want to take down my flag just yet….

Go O’s! 

Edited 18 hours ago by Grt 2BA FL Gator

[JR Oriole]

This is a really good post and I very much appreciate the optimism.  I am hoping to spend the offseason working on more effective ways to enjoy the team and to hopefully remember why I have loved them more than any other sports team for over 40 years.

While the loss on Wednesday is not anywhere near my top 5 of worst Orioles losses ever (especially since 1997 and 2014 don't leave much room for anything else), I can genuinely say that I got less enjoyment out of this particular team and season than any that I can ever remember. From an entertainment standpoint, it just wasn't there at all for me this year. And even though it is probably immature, I don't know of a better word than resentment for how I felt towards these guys as these last three and a half months have played out. The two images that I will always have of this season are Cowser whiffing on the pitch that broke his hand and Adley looking at that 2-0 meatball with the bases loaded in Game 2. Those pictures captured the 2024 Orioles perfectly.

Hoping my now much lower expectations bring more enjoyment in 2025.

 

[Too Tall]

OP sums it up well. I'll buy my Extra Innings package again next year and hope to see a better balanced team. I've got a heck of a lot of years invested in this team and while I ended this year really pissed, I'll start next spring with hopeful optimism. It always has been and always will be The Orioles. 

[Orioles West]

A brutal loss and an abrupt ending will definitely cause some “mild sports depression” — I feel that.

I’m a Maryland native living out west, but I was planning to fly home to catch an ALDS game. Whoops.

I’m already breaking out the calendar in hopes of being in B-More for Opening Day next spring.

1 hour ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

It’s going to be long wait. And I have no idea if this team capitalizes on their potential. But I’ll be rooting for it.

Because I love Baltimore, I love the Orioles, and I love these guys.

I still don’t want to take down my flag just yet….

Go O’s! 

I agree, more questions than answers this offseason to see if our O’s can take it to the next level.

Keep that flag flying!

We’ve got a long baseball winter ahead of us.

[Gurgi]

I love the Orioles but after the last three decades it is no longer unconditional love anymore from me.  The Orioles are going to have to put out once in a while to keep my interest.  They got to let us go all the way once in a while.  

[foxfield]

10 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I love the Orioles but after the last three decades it is no longer unconditional love anymore from me.  The Orioles are going to have to put out once in a while to keep my interest.  They got to let us go all the way once in a while.  

Well, it's been 4 decades actually.  And I really can't tell you or anyone else how to be a fan.  But my gut says that if you made it this far, you're gonna be ok.  These last two years have been hard, but they have been pretty special too.  I do not want to return to the dark ages of having the Yankees and Red Sox fans own our stadium and our team.  I know you hurt, we all do.  But you're gonna be fine.  Now the Orioles?  Well, I hope so.  Lol.

[wildcard]

This years playoff lose does not reach the top 5 in terms of pain for me.

1.   When the Jet beat the Coltsin the 69 Superbowl.  Now that is pain.

2.  Mets beat the heavily favored O's in the 69 WS

3.  Pirates beat the O's in 71.   Family my ass.

4.  Jeffery Maier robs the O's in the 96 Championship game vs the Yankees

5. Cleveland's Tony Fernandez  homers off Benitez  in the 11th to beat the O's 1-0 in the 97 Champion Series.

Love the O's.  This years lose was not has bad as any of those.

 

[Orioles West]

1 hour ago, Gurgi said:

I love the Orioles but after the last three decades it is no longer unconditional love anymore from me.  The Orioles are going to have to put out once in a while to keep my interest.  They got to let us go all the way once in a while.  

I forgot the name of the movie, but Jimmy Fallon was playing a BoSox superfan (tough role for an NY kid) and it was during the era of the ‘curse’ (right at the end of it actually) — a kid he was coaching asked, “What have the Red Sox ever done for you?”

His character didn’t have an answer.

But it made me think.

The movie was out during the 14-years of losing seasons.

I asked myself the same question about whether a lifetime of fandom was worth it.

For me, outside of my family - 15 generations or more on the Eastern Shore - the O’s are also part of my DNA. 

Win, lose, lose horribly, lose ugly, bad ownership, they just can’t shake me.

All that said, I totally understand the frustration.

It will take me a little longer to heal from this ugly exit to 2024.

[Orioles West]

58 minutes ago, wildcard said:

This years playoff lose does not reach the top 5 in terms of pain for me.

1.   When the Jet beat the Coltsin the 69 Superbowl.  Now that is pain.

2.  Mets beat the heavily favored O's in the 69 WS

3.  Pirates beat the O's in 71.   Family my ass.

4.  Jeffery Maier robs the O's in the 96 Championship game vs the Yankees

5. Cleveland's Tony Fernandez  homers off Benitez  in the 11th to beat the O's 1-0 in the 97 Champion Series.

Love the O's.  This years lose was not has bad as any of those.

 

Irsay stealing the Colts in a midnight sneak away is in my top five depressing B-More moments, as well as the dreaded We Are Family Pirates in the ‘79 series.

Otherwise, it’s a good bad list.

[24fps]

4 hours ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

I still don’t want to take down my flag just yet….

Go O’s! 

Definitely leave the flag up. 

[Moose Milligan]

I love them the way you might love a father who went out for cigarettes but never came home.  

[JR Oriole]

That Jimmy Fallon movie was Fever Pitch.  Came out in late 2004 I think, because they had enough time to have the last scene being him and Drew Barrymore on the field in St. Louis celebrating the World Series win. 

It actually was a really good movie at the time. But because the Red Sox and their fanbase became completely insufferable beginning with that comeback against the Yankees and carrying all the way through their 4 championships without so much as a loss in the World Series, it is hard for me to still enjoy it. But the underlying premise and that question of what has your favorite team ever done for you definitely resonated and certainly does even more so now with the Orioles.  And for Os fans the answer to that question is over the last 40 years, they haven't done much at all.   

[Orioles West]

Ah yes, Fever Pitch.

It was entertaining, I liked it. Especially the pals gathering when the season tickets arrived. And yes, real BoSox fans were far less fun than that after they ended the curse.

As for the O’s not giving us much, again, I understand the sentiment (like Moose’s take about abandonment).

Maybe it is an abusive relationship of sorts, but I still get 6-7 months of baseball a year, several winning seasons, which despite the play-off torture zone, I do like the team being far more competitive than when they were stacking losing seasons.

I love baseball, it really is my favorite sport. I think maybe I give them more room to fail because I live far from home and the O’s are the biggest part of my Maryland identity. Sounds weird maybe, but I do think that’s why I am already looking forward to the Hot Stove season where the O’s start adding the ‘nuggets’ that get them over the top.

I also realize being hopeful during the off-season can be considered quite delusional by other O’s fans.  

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

13 minutes ago, Orioles West said:

Ah yes, Fever Pitch.

It was entertaining, I liked it. Especially the pals gathering when the season tickets arrived. And yes, real BoSox fans were far less fun than that after they ended the curse.

As for the O’s not giving us much, again, I understand the sentiment (like Moose’s take about abandonment).

Maybe it is an abusive relationship of sorts, but I still get 6-7 months of baseball a year, several winning seasons, which despite the play-off torture zone, I do like the team being far more competitive than when they were stacking losing seasons.

I love baseball, it really is my favorite sport. I think maybe I give them more room to fail because I live far from home and the O’s are the biggest part of my Maryland identity. Sounds weird maybe, but I do think that’s why I am already looking forward to the Hot Stove season where the O’s start adding the ‘nuggets’ that get them over the top.

I also realize being hopeful during the off-season can be considered quite delusional by other O’s fans.  

I agree on both parts here. I’ve been reflecting on my love for baseball. Even the postseason helped me realize I enjoy the slow burn of the regular season. 

I also am far away from MD and for me Baltimore is part of my cultural roots (both parents from the area). So in some sort of way, like you said, maybe there’s a healthy separation and more tolerance for failure. Maybe even nostalgia, lol. But I’ll take it. 

[LA2]

13 hours ago, wildcard said:

This years playoff lose does not reach the top 5 in terms of pain for me.

1.   When the Jet beat the Coltsin the 69 Superbowl.  Now that is pain.

2.  Mets beat the heavily favored O's in the 69 WS

3.  Pirates beat the O's in 71.   Family my ass.

4.  Jeffery Maier robs the O's in the 96 Championship game vs the Yankees

5. Cleveland's Tony Fernandez  homers off Benitez  in the 11th to beat the O's 1-0 in the 97 Champion Series.

Love the O's.  This years lose was not has bad as any of those.

 

Re: #3--The 1979 Pirates were the "We are Family" team, not '71, which was about the great Roberto Clemente.

My list would have to include:

1. The 2016 Play-in loss to the Blue Jays after Buck refused to use Zach Britton in the 11th inning despite his having one of the greatest years a closer has ever had (47/47 in Saves, 0.54 ERA). 3-run homer by Edwin Encarnaçion off an already clearly ineffective Ubaldo Jimenez.

2. The 2014 Royals' four-game sweep of the O's after they had swept Detroit despite the TIgers' vaunted starting pitching triad of Scherzer, Verlander, and Price.

3. The utter humiliation of the O's in last season's playoffs vs. the Rangers, which we did an incredibly blah and boring job of trying to overcome.