Andrew Stetka: Looking back and ahead for O's

Orioles fans are going through a very strange period right now. After three straight seasons of competitive baseball, including two trips to the postseason, the O's are on the outside looking in this year. At this point, the Birds are just battling to finish with a winning record and stay out of the basement of the American League East.

As someone who blogs for Eutaw Street Report, which is all about the fan perspective, I feel a need to get the pulse of a large portion of that fan base at times. Right now, it isn't pretty. Part of the issue is that there is a new generation of Orioles fans who are still learning just how hard it is for a baseball team to be good on a consistent basis. There aren't many examples like the St. Louis Cardinals out there.

More than two years ago, I wrote a piece over at Eutaw Street Report that referred to Orioles fans having to pay a "tax" as the team becomes competitive. So much of the reaction during the team's 2012 wild card run was positive, but with it came a ton of backlash the following season when the O's met adversity.

As the NFL season now gets under way, I continually remind fans that baseball is nothing like football. One loss does not make or break a season the way it can in the NFL. While the ship may have sailed for the Orioles this season, it's still an important lesson to learn and reflect back on as they play out the final few weeks of the season. There wasn't one moment or frankly one thing that went wrong for the Birds this season. It was a collection of many things that turned the wrong way. Some of it can be attributed back to the offseason, and much of it goes on the players for their performance on the field.

The lesson of that piece on a "tax" was simply to act like you've been there before. The lesson to take from this season would be to realize that it's not as easy as 2014's 96-win, AL East championship campaign, either. I think there are a lot of fans out there that believe next season, or perhaps even this one, marks the start of another long string of losing seasons for the O's. I don't buy into that method of thinking, but I see where the fear comes from.

Many of the team's young fans, myself included, only know a long history of losing. Prior to 2012, I was only alive for five seasons of winning Baltimore baseball and three of those were before I was 4. I realize that there's a large portion of the fan base that has seen much more winning over the years, but it doesn't mean it was any easier then.

I am well aware that I'm not the authority on how fans are supposed to feel or react. That's far from what I'm trying to be. Part of what makes being a fan of a team so incredible, is having a passion so deep that your reactions mean something. I feel it's important to take a step back at times and realize how to take the good times in stride along with the bad ones. The thing is, this is a weird time for fans because many just don't know how to feel. They haven't had this bizarre sensation of failed expectation in a very long time. Coming into the season, many thought the O's would be right back in the thick of things in the American League. All is not lost, but this season really is.

Fans don't want to look ahead to 2016 while 2015 is still here. It's not the easiest of things to do. Watching September call-ups play to get experience without having a real reason to look at the standings - aside from wondering how far the Red Sox have moved up - is not fun. None of this means the Orioles are doomed to go on another 14-year stretch of bad baseball. There are still pieces in place to make this team competitive.

I'm disappointed that this season hasn't worked out in the best way it could have, but I'm also not sulking in it. As I maintained in my piece for Eutaw Street Report in 2013, I don't think the Orioles are in for a long stretch of losing. As long as Buck Showalter is around, that type of thing just won't happen.

Andrew Stetka blogs about the Orioles for Eutaw Street Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AStetka. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.