So if they had just scored two more runs on Friday night, we’d probably be ready to cancel football season altogether because we’d be so excited about baseball that we’d have no time for absolutely anything else.
Instead of winning a massive series against the Yankees however, the Orioles dropped two of three to start their second half. It changed very little about the big picture for the team, the franchise and the state of the rebuild. But the results provided an interesting look at our perception of the team.
You see, we’re feeling feelings. We’re down bad. This team that we had absolutely zero expectations for … we’re caught up. Three weeks ago we were saying things like “maybe the Orioles aren’t very good, but they fight and they scratch and they claw and that’s all we could have asked for!”
Now … now we’re asking for a little more.
I met a listener at the Third Eye Blind/Taking Back Sunday show Saturday night at Merriweather Post Pavilion who said (and I’m paraphrasing) “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I was genuinely disappointed they didn’t finish the comeback last night.” The Orioles, of course, had gotten a three-run homer from Anthony Santander to cut a 7-3 deficit to 7-6 but couldn’t finish the job. It was an example of the “they don’t quit” mentality we’ve grown to love about the team and yet … we found ourselves wanting more!
When a fan pointed out that battling the best team in baseball so tight was an example of progress, my friend and radio partner Syreeta Hubbard said, “I’m starting to get spoiled. I want W’s now.”
And I get it! Before the season began, I could have never possibly fathomed getting worked up about the results of a late July series. I was totally convinced that I would largely be checked out by now! But I agreed with these assessments. As a fan of the team, getting back within a run on Friday night no longer felt like some sort of moral victory. It was a bummer.
This is quite the statement about how truly remarkable what this team has done really is. But is it fair for us? Are we unreasonably moving the goalposts?
I’ve been struggling with this since the 10-game win streak changed the team’s overall reality. On Glenn Clark Radio last week, we hotly discussed the topic, “How would you define a ‘successful’ season at the end of the year?” Most of the answers I got were reasonable. Few fans painted some sort of “playoffs-or-bust” picture for this team. This city seems to still be realistic about how improbable it would be for this group to somehow find its way into the postseason.
The answers tended to be more direct about final win totals. FanDuel projected the Orioles for 61.5 wins before the season and fans appear comfortable with the idea that they’ll surpass that number. Numbers between 70 and 77 wins were popular among our listeners in terms of what total would constitute a “successful” season. Some fans went as far as to say that given what they’ve done so far, there’s almost nothing that could happen the rest of the way (barring, say, a 4-32 stretch to close the year) that would make the season unsuccessful.
My opinion hasn’t wavered for awhile now. The Orioles are scheduled to host the Blue Jays at 1 p.m. on Labor Day (Sept. 5). If they’re within a few games (even, say, five) of a playoff spot against a Blue Jays team that will almost certainly be in the playoff mix, there should be a wildly electric atmosphere for that game. And not the “20,000 Yankees fans” type of electric atmosphere, either.
That’s how I’m choosing to define success. If the Orioles play a relevant September baseball game in front of a massive crowd on Labor Day, I don’t care what happens the rest of the way. If won’t matter if they make the playoffs or if they fall short. All that will have mattered is that, in a year when we couldn’t have possibly expected it, the Orioles would have provided us both meaningful late-season baseball and laid the foundation for years to come.
If they can’t stay relevant until Labor Day, it’s not as if the season would be some sort of total loss. But it would be more difficult to feel confidence that they’d be ready to compete for even loftier goals next season. There would certainly still be positives to take from how well they’ve played to this point and reason to be excited about the players (Adley Rutschman in particular) who helped get us here and will be a part of the plan for years to come.
Still, it’s hard not to dream about the possibility of a raucous Labor Day baseball game in Baltimore. And, fair or not, it’s hard not to imagine a bit of disappointment if we don’t get it.
Photo Credit: Colin Murphy/PressBox