Baltimore vs. Everyone: Inside the Orioles’ battle with title expectations

NEW YORK — Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, holding a can of Budweiser in his left hand and a bottle of champagne in his right, was fittingly over the top and jubilant as he addressed his team last September.

“Nobody gave us a chance at the start of this year,” Hyde declared to a clubhouse of players donning bright orange division championship T-shirts. “Nobody. How’s 100 wins?”

Those words were delivered after the 2023 Orioles, characterized by an underdog mentality, clinched the American League East with their 100th win of the season. After losing 100-plus games in three consecutive full seasons in 2018, 2019 and 2021, Baltimore’s rebuilding youth movement surprised baseball pundits by remaining in playoff contention until the last week of the 2022 season. Still, the O’s entered 2023 with stymied expectations from the industry at large. FanGraphs gave the AL’s eventual top seed a 1.3% chance of winning the East, a projection that took only a couple of months to look silly.

Those ground-level expectations worked to the Orioles’ advantage last year. Relying on a club of rising stars and key veterans that provided more than enough pop to topple the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox and Blue Jays, the Birds within the clubhouse had higher expectations of themselves than the birds who tweeted on social media and chirped on national broadcasts. Baltimore rode that underdog mentality all the way to the American League Division Series, where they ran into a buzz-saw Texas Rangers team that ended up winning the whole thing. 

Since nobody initially gave the Orioles a chance, hardly anyone faulted them for their early exit from the playoffs, either. They had defied the odds, won 101 games, won the AL East, and revitalized baseball in Baltimore. But the 2023 season changed everything — most critically, those pesky expectations. This year, they opened the season with a national outlook that insisted they’d earn a second consecutive postseason berth, with a Corbin Burnes-induced opportunity to go all the way to the Fall Classic.

“It’s impossible not to hear that outside noise, it’s impossible not to know what the media is saying, what the fans are saying,” catcher James McCann said. “Heck, you just look around the clubhouse and it’s on MLB Network every day. But for us, it’s kind of the same mentality we had last year. Next man up, find a way to get it done.

“The guys in here are such pros. They’ve done a really good job of not allowing outside expectations to change who they are.”

How have the Orioles adapted to their floor being raised? Within their clubhouse walls this week during a series at Citi Field, Baltimore players were a little tighter, a little less carefree, than they were around this time last year as they went about their pregame work. Besides some donning “Moo, The Milkman” T-shirts in playful support of rookie outfielder Colton Cowser, the atmosphere was all business, locked in. 

With more national pressure, it seems, has come a more serious attitude and approach.

“I don’t think our guys have changed at all since last year, or pressing any,” Hyde said. “I just think the injuries hurt, and we’re not very veteran-like either. We’re pretty young, still. I think most young players kind of go through ups and downs. Hopefully, we can finish the season strong.”

Rookie Jackson Holliday, son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, likes to think he brings a youthful spark to the O’s. But he relies on his more experienced teammates, too, to help him stay present. Veteran leadership can show up in a multitude of ways. Sometimes it’s experts sharing advice with neophytes — Orioles veterans encouraging the rookies to stick to the process, take things day-by-day, and refrain from being too critical of yourself. Other times it’s leading by example, by exacting revenge on your former team, like McCann did in the Orioles’ win over the Mets on Tuesday. 

McCann, playing in his first game at Citi Field since the Mets traded the catcher to Baltimore in December 2022, delivered a statement in the form of a two-run home run to the second deck in left field off starter José Quintana. Teammates in the Orioles dugout smiled big as the typically reserved McCann took longer than usual to admire his towering moonshot. It was clear that the two-run homer, which increased Baltimore’s lead to 6-1, was aided by a little extra juice and retribution for McCann.

In his Mets tenure, the sound of McCann’s footsteps plodding back to the dugout was too often drowned out by the bombardment of boos that rained down from all corners of Citi Field. McCann batted .220 with a .610 OPS and 70 OPS+ in 182 games across two years in Queens. As New York crowds go, he didn’t get any sympathy from the fan base for his struggles at the plate. But he earned more respect from his Orioles clubhouse Tuesday after hammering a two-run home run that wound up being critical to their win after the Mets rallied in the eighth inning. 

Overcoming adversity is a necessary ingredient in playoff-bound teams, whether it’s the O’s attempting to conquer their slew of pitching injuries, or it’s McCann showing up his old team. 

“Any time you’re facing a team that you previously played for, there’s always a little extra [motivation],” Hyde said. “I know that that homer felt good. It was a beautiful swing. It ended up being a huge hit for us.”

Hitting homers against former teams is a joy that more than half the Orioles lineup has never experienced. Baltimore’s offense is crowded with hitters who are in their first, second or third years in the majors, as well as guys who have only played for the O’s, a clear-cut indication of the youth and inexperience on the roster. Though Baltimore sent five players to the All-Star Game — and three earned starts — scuffling closer Craig Kimbrel is the only member of the team who boasts a significant postseason sample size. Still, as green as they are, these Orioles are not exempt from the responsibility of meeting lofty expectations like they were last year. For the next handful of years, this organization is built to go deeper into October, backed by a top farm system, becoming an annual threat to win a championship. 

Yet, after failing to win a third consecutive series this week and falling to 21-23 since the start of July, the Orioles have let their early-season dominance slightly slip away. McCann acknowledged that, sometimes, they fall into the trap of comparing themselves to last year. The 10th-year catcher added that younger players, in particular, can start chasing their 2023 numbers and all that made them tick last season. Veterans try to encourage them to trust the process instead, but that can be easier said than done without multiple years of experience to fall back on. 

Perhaps the Orioles are too aware of their expectations, and are allowing the moment to get too big. Finding a way to tap back into their underdog, carefree approach could be the trick that gets them clicking again. 

Baltimore is no doubt still a top team in the major leagues. It has the best young core in baseball, and its talent has kept the club neck and neck with the Yankees for first place in the AL East. But there has been cause for concern. Without the no-pressure attitude, Baltimore has struggled to capitalize on opportunities. When the Yankees were in a downward spiral from the middle of June until after the All-Star break, the O’s squandered their chance to pull away in the division by stumbling through series losses at the same time. 

The bullpen’s performance has been especially troubling, its 4.18 ERA ranking 23rd in the majors and only worsening since the All-Star break. Deadline pickup Seranthony Domínguez had allowed just one run over his first nine appearances with the O’s before surrendering home runs in each of his past three outings, including Wednesday’s walk-off to the Mets’ Jesse Winker. On Thursday, Baltimore optioned fellow trade acquisition Trevor Rogers after just four starts because of his 7.11 ERA.

Amid everyone now giving them much more than a chance, the Orioles’ internal belief is their mindset hasn’t changed. They’re still young, hungry and capable of doing something really special in October — and buttressed by having a little more experience on their side. But will it be enough to go the distance and make their first World Series appearance since 1983? 

“I don’t think you can be satisfied with just winning the division,” Holliday said. “It’s a really big feat, it’s really special. But the goal is to win the World Series. That’s everyone’s goal here.”

These Orioles already exceeded expectations once. In turn, they’re facing a tougher challenge: meeting them.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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