Orioles geared again toward going further in playoffs

The pain has faded, but it took a while. The postseason silence in a clubhouse can ring in a player’s ears.

The Orioles won the American League East in 2023 and were swept by the Rangers in the best-of-five Division Series. They earned the top Wild Card in 2024 and were swept by the Royals in the best-of-three series.

Winning 192 games in the past two seasons doesn’t lessen the disappointment of those abrupt finishes. Making the playoffs three straight years for the first time since 1969-71 won’t mean much if eyes are filled with tears again and hugs are given to console rather than celebrate.

“That’s my No. 1 goal and it’s been my No. 1 goal since I’ve been up in the big leagues is to make a strong playoff push, and it stinks that we haven’t really done that,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said at last week’s Birdland Caravan. “That’s something that I’m really looking forward to going through this year is getting over that hump and making a strong push.”

That hump has looked 50 feet tall, with the streak of playoff game defeats reaching 10 in a row dating back to the 2014 Championship Series. The Orioles had their roster battered by injuries last year but competed into October before their championship dreams died again.

One run scored, one hit with runners in scoring position, 16 men left on base, an entire squad left feeling empty.

“I think we’ve got a really good team and a really good core,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle. “Should make another good run this year.”

Every team in the AL East, led by the Yankees, is capable of tripping them. No one said it’s going to be easy.

“The division’s really good,” said first baseman Ryan O’Hearn. “You look at what the Yankees have done this offseason. Obviously, they won the East last year. Boston’s going to be good, Toronto’s made some moves. Every team is good, and every team is competitive, so it’s kind of like a never ending gauntlet when you’re playing teams in our own division. But we’re confident in ourselves, we know what we can do.

“So focusing internally what we can do to get better every day, and then when it’s time to go to battle, we’ll be ready to go.”

Going from division champs to a Wild Card puts the Orioles in an underdog role that doesn’t seem to bother them.

“We obviously enjoy being on top, but yeah, we’ve got to go out and prove it again this year,” Henderson said. “Each year’s different, so we’ve just got to go out there and continue to work hard.”

Playing past the regular season is a good way to harden a club, to make it battle tested and better equipped to handle the heat.

“We can’t replicate the playoffs,” O’Hearn said. “The height of the sport, it’s the most pressure, it’s the most eyes on you. It’s something that, until you experience it, you really don’t know how you’re going to react. So I think even though we only played two games, getting those guys out there, myself included …

“I’ve only played in a few playoff games, but any kind of experience you can gain from that. We have that bad taste in our mouth, we want to do something special as a group, and we’re going to take our past experiences and use that to benefit us.”

The Orioles don’t want to keep having to prove that they can overcome adversity, but that’s the hand dealt again in 2025. They’ll be asked about it again in spring training, where attendance will overwhelm the 10 players at the Caravan. They’ll be challenged during the season to rise up, make the playoffs again and take the necessary steps to carry them beyond the first round.

“That’s baseball,” Mountcastle said. “We had a lot of injuries and a lot of stuff that didn’t really go our way. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to get back up, keep working. And all these guys have put in the work this offseason and should show this season.”

* The Twins reached agreement yesterday with former Orioles reliever Danny Coulombe on a one-year contract for a reported $3 million.

The Orioles acquired Coulombe from the Twins on March 27, 2023 for cash considerations, one of the best trades in recent years. They declined the $4 million option on his contract.