In “Moneyball”, the best movie about modern baseball, Brad Pitt portrays Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane who cleverly uses analytics and shrewd talent judgment to propel his low-rent A’s to the playoffs, but it’s not quite enough to advance in the playoffs. Last year, the Orioles seemed stuck in the same predicament. They won an astounding 101 regular season games despite having the second lowest budget in baseball. The O’s were swept only once — unfortunately, it was in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.
But this year, a trip to the World Series is the unabashed goal. Three decades of Angelos family ownership, often marked by parsimony and poor teams, is officially over. New owners David Rubenstein, Cal Ripken Jr. and colleagues have made it clear they want to win big. (In the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, it’s so important that Iron Man Cal Ripken is in the new ownership group. He helps unify Baltimore’s working class core like no one else.) General Manager Mike Elias continues to perform miracles, most recently bamboozling the Brewers into giving up Corbin Burnes, the most consistent workhorse pitcher in the sport. Meanwhile, the farm system is so chock full of A1 position player talent that even 20-year-old boy wonder Jackson Holliday couldn’t make the opening-day roster (don’t worry, he’ll be called up by May).
At least five other MLB-worthy young position players — Heston Kjerstad, Kyle Stowers, Coby Mayo, Samuel Basallo, and Connor Norby — will also start the year in the minors with Holliday, with outfielder Colton Cowser already on the big club roster. At some point, perhaps as early as this season’s trade deadline, some of these players will probably have to be traded, since even Elias can’t carry eight infielders and six outfielders on a 26-man roster. But not to worry —Miracle Mike will find a way to maximize the benefit.
As always, starting pitching is key, and as Burnes takes the top spot, Grayson Rodriguez should finally shine as a strong No. 2, with Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Cole Irvin, and Tyler Wells rounding out a much deeper group than 2024. And if John Means ever stays healthy and reaches his potential, even the Dodgers had better watch out.
The bullpen was simply stupendous last year, and that can’t be expected to repeat. But even with a likely regression and the huge loss of Felix “The Mountain” Bautista for this year, the pen should be good enough again. And 2023 AL Manager of the Year Brandon Hyde can be trusted to push the right buttons.
So, for hundreds of thousands of long-suffering O’s fans, the next few years promise to be a golden era, with fine young men like Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson combining with veterans like Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle to create that mix of youth and experience that seems to be the surest ticket to the World Series.
Of course, even hugely talented and highly paid teams can fall flat — just ask the 2023 Mets and Padres. Injuries, poor seasons by key players, hot opponents, weird weather, bad bounces and just plain rotten baseball karma have derailed innumerable good teams. Still, one has the feeling that’s not going to happen to this O’s team. They had their trial run in 2023; 2024 is about getting to the big dance.
It’s true, however, that the rest of the AL East has gotten better, especially the Yankees. Recent acquisition Juan Soto, who rallied the 2019 Washington Nationals to a World Series win, will vastly improve a line-up that already includes recent MVP Aaron Judge. Still, these Bronx Bombers always seem a bit like musclebound fighters — formidable and intimidating, but lacking the intangible pixie dust of youth and the agility necessary to ultimately come out on top.
The Tampa Rays are always tough, but not as strong as Baltimore this year. Toronto will likely underachieve, as usual, lacking pitching, and the Red Sox are happily largely irrelevant. Houston will again be the main obstacle to the World Series, but the star players of today finally seem a bit over the hill, as evidenced by Justin Verlander being out on the injured list to start the season. In the NL, the Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani and his many rich buddies are going to be a huge force (even with thieving interpreters). And the Atlanta Braves may be just as good.
But those are concerns for September, not April. Now we get the rare pleasure of starting a season cheering for a truly talented, unspoiled, young team that has known adversity and whom we can now call our own. To borrow a line from “Moneyball”: It’s hard not to be romantic about baseball — and especially about this Baltimore Orioles team.
In “Moneyball,” Billy Beane cares so much about the games he can’t bear to watch them, a feeling all true baseball fans know well. But Orioles fans should not have that problem. Not this year. And not for years to come. It’s finally time to enjoy watching true Baltimore Orioles baseball, again.
Paul Bledsoe (paul.bledsoe@yahoo.com) is an Orioles fan from Arlington, Virginia.
