Let’s go, you O’s
This past year was perhaps the best to be an Orioles fan in four decades. 2024 has the potential to be even better.
The Orioles won 101 games in 2023 — hitting the century mark for the first time since 1980 — and hosted a playoff game at Camden Yards for the first time since 2014. The year was filled with plenty of highs — and a few lows — from walk-off wins to clinch celebrations to awards aplenty.
But the season ended with a thud after a three-game sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers, and aside from signing closer Craig Kimbrel and a few minor transactions, the offseason has so far been slow.
After a successful 2023, what could 2024 have in store? Here’s what Orioles fans have to look forward to this year.
Not having to worry about the lease: The negotiations aren’t technically over and much is to still be decided.
But Orioles fans no longer have to follow the saga that took up too much oxygen in 2023.
And they don’t have to worry — however unlikely — about their team driving off in the middle of the night the way the Colts did nearly 40 years ago.
In mid-December, the Orioles and the state agreed to a lease keeping the team at Camden Yards for up to 30 years and at least 15.
The agreement does not yet lease public land to the Orioles for development, giving the two sides until the end of 2027 to come to such terms. If they can’t, the Orioles could reduce the lease term to 15 years, keeping the team in Baltimore through 2038.
Either way, 2024 will not have the same concern about the club’s future in Baltimore, although there will be plenty of questions about its ownership.
The fans can, for the most part, focus just on baseball.
Jackson Holliday’s MLB debut: Will it come in late March? Sometime in April? Or will it be delayed until later in the season?
The answer to when Holliday, the top prospect in baseball, will make his major league debut in 2024 remains to be seen. But it almost certainly will happen sometime this year, adding even more young talent — a 20-year-old infielder — to a roster already chock-full of youthful stars.
Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said during the MLB winter meetings it was a “very strong possibility” that Holliday, who jumped from Low-A Delmarva to Triple-A Norfolk in 2023, would break camp on Baltimore’s 26-man roster.
If that’s the case, Holliday’s debut could very well come in front of a packed house at Camden Yards on March 28.
A potential full season from John Means: Means’ return in 2023 went better than anyone could have expected, but it was also bittersweet.
The veteran left-hander posted a 2.66 ERA in four starts after he returned from a lengthy recovery from Tommy John elbow reconstruction. But his elbow flared up shortly before the postseason, causing him to miss the American League Division Series.
There’s no way to know whether Means will be healthy for the entire season, but it’s possible he serves as the steadying, veteran presence in 2024 that Kyle Gibson did in 2023. And instead of an innings-eater with a high ERA, Means has no-hitter, All-Star potential.
A potential MVP chase from Gunnar Henderson: This is lofty, but it’s certainly within Henderson’s reach.
Henderson was able to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award despite struggling for most of the first two months of the season. His stellar final four months revived his case to win the award, earned him the status as perhaps the Orioles’ best player and led him to finish the season third in wins above replacement among AL position players.
What if Henderson doesn’t have a lengthy slump in 2024? What if Henderson is actually better this year?
If that happens, Henderson would at the very least earn AL Most Valuable Player votes and could spend the end of the season in a race with the rest of the circuit’s best. It helps, too, that Shoehei Ohtani, the AL MVP two of the past three seasons, now plays in the National League for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A save chase from Craig Kimbrel: The Orioles giving $13 million to Kimbrel to be the club’s closer in 2024 in Félix Bautista’s stead wasn’t met with the fanfare one would assume for a low-payroll team signing a capable closer.
Perhaps Kimbrel is on the downward slope of his career, barrelling toward no longer being worthy of a late-inning role. But Elias and company believe Kimbrel’s solid 2023 campaign with the Philadelphia Phillies shows he’s got plenty in the tank.
If that’s the case, Kimbrel could rack up dozens of saves and continue climbing up the all-time list. With 417 saves, the right-hander is eighth in MLB history. He’s three behind Boston Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen, who is the only active pitcher with more saves. Kimbrel is five behind Billy Wagner, seven behind John Franco and 20 behind Francisco Rodríguez for fourth all-time.
It might not have been thrilling when the Orioles chose to sign Kimbrel instead of trade for Emmanuel Clase or ink Josh Hader, but if Kimbrel pitches the way he has the past two years, Orioles fans will have plenty of enjoyment — and nerves — with each rung on the saves ladder he climbs.
Another race for the AL East …: In 2023, the AL East was one of the best divisions in baseball history with three playoff teams, four clubs above .500 and an overall winning percentage of .554. It could be even better in 2024.
If that’s the case, this season could feature an even more exciting race for the AL East crown. Instead of just the Tampa Bay Rays and Orioles battling for the top spot, the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays — two franchises who have made (or attempted to make) big moves this offseason — could also be competitors for the AL East title.
Given the Orioles’ success in 2023 and the expected competitiveness of the division, each game in 2024, especially those within the AL East, will be even more important.
… and maybe more playoff games: A playoff berth is far from guaranteed.
It’s likely the same projections systems that said the Orioles would win between 75 and 78 games last season will again say Baltimore is due for regression in 2024.
How could they not be? Winning more than 101 games is almost impossible, and if the AL East will once again be a gantlet, winning a second straight division title is less likely than not.
However, making the playoffs is the new expectation in Baltimore, and considering expected improvements in the rotation and further growth among their young core, the Orioles are in an excellent position to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1996-97.
That could mean more playoff baseball — and perhaps at Camden Yards — for the Orioles and their fans.