The 2023 Orioles regular season came out of a storybook. The 2024 version feels like it’s due for a rewrite.
The 2023 Orioles clinched their first playoff spot in seven years with a walk-off hit in a one-run game, a blow struck by Cedric Mullins, who had survived the entire franchise rebuild.
The 2024 team lost two opportunities to get closer to clinching in close games Saturday and Sunday, and some of the decisive plays felt like getting kicked by the baseball gods.
The Orioles missed a chance for a walk-off Saturday night when Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney made a diving catch in shallow left field. On Sunday, they were thwarted by Colton Cowser getting thrown out on a close play at third and also having a potential homer picked off by Parker Meadows reaching over the fence.
“We didn’t catch any breaks,” manager Brandon Hyde said.
The performances were far from perfect, but he had a point.
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If you had a tagline to sum up the Orioles season, it would be “No Lucky Breaks.” From the injuries to key pitchers and infielders, to the drop in comeback victories (48 last season to 32 this season) to a flip in one-run-game record (30-16 last season to 14-17 this season), the Orioles have experienced a backslide — and some of it, inevitably, has to do with luck.
Though the Orioles are still going to clinch a postseason spot and win close to 90 games (if not more), there’s just a different aura to this campaign. If last season was a joyride, this one is a gridlocked, bumper-to-bumper commute. If last season was a roller coaster that made you scream in delight, 2024 has made you wonder about the structural integrity of the ride.
And yet, for all the uneasy bumps and shortcomings, these Orioles are still going to the playoffs. Why does this season feel as fun as a list of Saturday morning chores?
Although the Orioles not delivering critical hits with runners in scoring position on back-to-back days is definitely concerning, their losses at the end of their final regular-season home stand didn’t feel the same as the ones at the beginning. To start this week, the pitching staff felt overmatched and the Homer Hose was as dry as a bleached bone. By week’s end, the Orioles finally showed signs of getting healthier and at least putting up a fight.
It’s definitely a stretch to spin a 2-4 week in a positive direction, but the positive might just be this: No setback is going to throw the 2024 Orioles for a loop in the postseason. They’ve pretty much had to grind through this entire second half of the year.
Slumps? They’ve all had ’em. Pitching woes? Oh yeah. Injuries? Too many. But maybe these Orioles are more resilient than the 2023 version. That’s what they seem to think.
“I think, honestly, this year has been full of a lot of adversity,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. “Lots of injuries, lots of close games. But I mean, I think if you would’ve said at the start of the year we’re in the position we are now, we’d still be pleased with where we’re at. I think it makes us better for it.”
I’m not here to argue that this team is better than the 2023 version, because, clearly, it hasn’t been. With the names they’re still missing from the rotation and the bullpen alone, the Orioles have had to take a step back — and their stars haven’t quite produced the same way either.
But, after the way the good-vibes 2023 Orioles cruised into the AL’s top seed, their 0-3 crash to the Texas Rangers came out of, well, left field. Partly informed by that experience, partly through the solemn march of this season, the 2024 Orioles don’t expect anything to come easily.
Grinding it out is required come October. They know that because they’ve had to do it even to get within reach of the postseason — and because last year’s storybook season crashed so suddenly and completely.
Then again, if last year’s team got more than its fair share of breaks, the 2024 Orioles are due for a few. You can see how different things might be if their luck improves just a little.
Reporter Andy Kostka contributed to this story.
