Two games, one run: The offseason is here already for the Orioles

The ending can be abrupt and this one was. A season of big expectations for the Orioles ended with another quick out in the playoffs. This time they are done one round sooner than last year.

It all stings in the moment and will probably stay with many in the organization and fanbase for quite a while.

Ten straight postseason losses and swept in four consecutive series counting the one-game Wild Card in 2016. Not good.

In time some of the hurt will fade and fans will look forward to another promising season. For the Orioles, the window to win should be in the early stages of a multi-year run. This should not be their last crack at it.

Last year they gave up too many runs to Texas. This year they scored too few in 1-0 and 2-1 losses to Kansas City.

"We know the type of offense that we are and it just wasn't on our side," said Anthony Santander, who was 1-for-8 this series. "We didn't succeed with runners in scoring position, and especially myself, and pretty disappointed knowing I could have done a better job for the team, but that's just the way it went with the offense.

"No words," he added. "Just really happy and proud, and I thank this fan base for supporting me and this team for giving me the opportunity to play here all these years."

And many in Birdland hope those were not parting words for the pending free agent.

Added Ryan O’Hearn: “Feel terrible. Feel terrible for our fans. Feel like we let them down. Just sucks. We didn't score runs and we didn't get any big hits when we needed to. Just feel terrible about it."

The Orioles went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position in Game 1 and 0-for-6 last night.

“This hurt just because we had opportunities to win both games," manager Brandon Hyde said. "Last year Game 1 opportunity, didn't win, but then the next two kind of got out of hand. This year you felt like these were two winnable games.”

Gunnar Henderson was feeling the hurt but took a minute to ponder a bright O’s future.

"We're obviously excited where this can go," Henderson said, "and we're looking forward to taking the next step."

A take on the offense: The O’s offense, deservedly so, takes the brunt of the blame in this series. One run, said Captain Obvious, was not close to enough.

While some fans on social media call for coaches to get fired over it or even Hyde, that for me, is a big overreaction with little chance to come to pass.

Instead, I foresee the O’s making some tweaks or changes – perhaps both with individual players or the lineup as a whole. But no massive overhauls. 

During the 2024 regular season, the four highest-scoring teams in the majors were Arizona (886 runs), the Los Angeles Dodgers (842), the New York Yankees (815) and the Orioles (786).

But there were not too many nights when the O’s struggled early and were unable to figure it out mid-game or late that game. They have to find a way to do that. A way to grind more at-bats and have a good approach more consistently. They showed at times, that they could do it. They did not show they could consistently do it.

During this series, these things happened:

* Baltimore lost 1-0 in a playoff game for the third time in team history, joining Game 6 of the 1997 ALDS vs. Cleveland on Oct. 15 and Game 3 of the 1974 ALCS vs. Oakland on Oct. 8.

* The O’s Corbin Burnes was the first Oriole to throw a pitch in the postseason in the ninth inning since Scott McGregor clinched the 1983 World Series with a complete game shutout in Philadelphia for Game 5 on Oct. 16.

* The O’s were shut out for the first 13 innings of the series; marks the longest postseason scoreless streak by the club since the 1974 ALCS from the sixth inning of Game 1 Oct. 5 at Oakland to the eighth inning of Game 4 vs. Oakland, per the Elias Sports Bureau.

* Baltimore’s postseason losing streak, dating to 2014 reached 10. It is the longest playoff losing streak since Minnesota dropped 18 postseason games in a row from Oct. 6, 2004 to Sept. 30, 2020.

* Kansas City became the first team in MLB history to win a playoff series of at least two games with one or no extra-base hits. A leadoff double in the first last night by Michael Massey was their only EBH.