Baltimore Orioles followers have had it tough within the postseason for a major period of time.
The workforce was swept Wednesday of their opening postseason collection for the second straight yr, falling 2-1 in Sport 2 of the American League Wild Card collection to the Kansas Metropolis Royals.
It marks the fourth straight playoff collection and the tenth straight playoff recreation the franchise has misplaced since 2014, when it swept the Detroit Tigers within the divisional spherical however have been in the end swept themselves, mockingly, by the Royals within the championship collection.
Baltimore had five straight losing seasons from 2017-21 and didn’t make the playoffs in 2022 after profitable greater than 80 video games for the primary time since 2016 — the final time it made the postseason earlier than 2023.
After profitable the American League East division for the primary time since 2014 final yr, Baltimore was swept by the eventual World Sequence champion Texas Rangers. It prolonged the franchise’s championship-less streak to 41 years, the sixth-longest in league history (1983 World Sequence champions).
2023 and 2024 marked the primary time the workforce had gained 90+ video games in back-to-back seasons since 1982-83 and in addition the primary time since 1996-97 that it appeared within the postseason two straight years.
However when Baltimore’s starters wanted to point out up, they went ice chilly — solely recording a lone run within the wild-card collection.
The workforce’s finest batter this season, Gunnar Henderson, batted .281 within the regular season but never logged a hit in two video games towards Kansas Metropolis.
Final yr, Ryan O’Hearn, batted .289 in the regular season however solely put up a meager .200 in three video games towards Texas.
And Baltimore’s pitchers weren’t the issue this yr like they have been in 2023. They solely gave up a collective three runs to Kansas Metropolis in comparison with a whopping 21 to Texas.
After a number of years of high draft picks and making important trades for high-caliber gamers like pitcher Corbin Burnes this yr, Baltimore has to return to the drafting board but once more to determine the way to recover from its playoff droop.
