The Plight Of Being A O's Fan

 It's only May and its been a long season for the O's, and truth be told its only going to get longer. Somewhere between their playoff exit last year and this season, they've forgotten how to play fundamental baseball. Brandon Hyde was fired to save Elias ass, Rubinstein suddenly had fallen back from the spotlight. And everything everyone knew was a problem for the team, had combusted all at once. Lack of quality starter pitchers, and lack of scoring if their not hitting Homer's.

Once again the franchise seems to be in a tailspin. And O's fan's are on edge about the competitive window of the team. Quite frankly it is tough, very TOUGH to be an Oriole's fan. The last time the Orioles won the world series was three years before I was born, which means there is an entire generation out there (Gen X) have not seen the O's win since they were Kid's. Millennials like myself and Gen Z'ers who have never even seen them in a world series. And at this rate Gen Alpha and possibly the newest name Gen Beta may not see them either.

I remember the '96 O's, and looking back even if Jeffrey Maier hadn't reached out and took the ball from Tony Tarasco. We still would have lost to the Yankees because it was their year. The '97 team was a different story, we should have beat the Indians and made the World Series. After that we did not sniff the playoffs again until 2012, a 15 year gap.

 Then came 2014 which I just knew was our year. I remember being at Game 2 of the division series against the Tigers, and the amazing atmosphere after we came back to win. Then we got swept by The Royal's with the same issues that plague the team now. Lack of timely hitting if there are no Homer's.

2016 was a dud. Then another seven years passed before we made the playoffs in 2023. And we all know how last years playoffs went, which gave us plenty of warning signs about this season.

Honestly we O's fan's are tired. From Baby Boomers on down, we all are exhausted of the teams inability to be competitive for long periods of time. We use to live on hope, with every proclaimnation that a new era was upon us. I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty much out of hope.

I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. However, there definitely needs to be some changes in the warehouse, on how they scout, draft, and develop talent. Knowing when to actually pay for the missing pieces to bring a game changing talent here. And just what they want the culture of the O's to be in the long haul.

Truth be told, I just want to sit in a corner and cry tears of joy. Sooner rather than later when the Orioles finally win a World Series in my lifetime.