'Just the worst feeling' as O's exit playoffs early again

BALTIMORE -- This time, it happened in front of their home fans. Members of the Orioles’ roster watched another team celebrate, but on their turf -- the aftermath of Kansas City’s 2-1 win to complete a two-game sweep in the American League Wild Card Series on Wednesday -- and many of those Baltimore players stood inside the first-base dugout at Camden Yards in disbelief.

This time, the O’s retreated to their home clubhouse, many of them with moist eyes. They hugged each other. They shook hands. They offered support to their teammates.

General manager Mike Elias walked around and thanked them all. Everybody needed a bit of time to decompress.

This time, it seemed to have hurt even more. The 2024 season wasn’t supposed to be a repeat of ‘23 -- when the upstart Orioles appeared to be a powerhouse, then got swept in three games in the AL Division Series by the Rangers, who broke Baltimore’s hearts at Globe Life Field.

Nobody envisioned this as the ending.

“It’s just the worst feeling,” catcher Adley Rutschman said. “You want to play as long as you can with a group like this, and these guys, they’ve competed all year. It just doesn’t feel right.”

The path to the postseason wasn’t nearly as easy for the Orioles this year after they went 101-61 and won the AL East last season. That was supposed to be helpful, as players stressed during the final weeks of September. They were more “battle tested,” some of them stated.

The list of injuries proved what Baltimore went through to get to 91-71 and the top AL Wild Card seed. Success came even without All-Star closer Félix Bautista (Tommy John surgery) and starters Kyle Bradish (Tommy John), John Means (Tommy John) and Tyler Wells (UCL repair). And also without starter Grayson Rodriguez (multiple IL stints), reliever Danny Coulombe (left elbow surgery) and infielders Jordan Westburg (right hand fracture), Ramón Urías (right ankle sprain) and Ryan Mountcastle (left wrist sprain) for significant chunks of time.

A 33-33 second half was supposed to be left in the past when Coulombe, Westburg, Urías and Mountcastle all returned in mid-to-late September. The O’s finally built season-ending momentum with a 5-1 road trip vs. the Yankees and Twins, as their confidence returned ahead of an October meeting with the Royals (86-76, the No. 5 seed).

“We put ourselves in a good spot to have a good run,” center fielder Cedric Mullins said. “Again, didn’t go our way. But I think this one’s going to stick a little bit more just because second time through experiencing the same thing, it’s more frustrating.”

Baltimore scored one run over two AL Wild Card Series games vs. Kansas City. After taking a 1-0 loss in Tuesday’s Game 1, the Orioles started slow Wednesday before Mullins tied Game 2 with one swing -- a leadoff home run in the fifth inning.

That quickly got overshadowed, as the Orioles then loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and failed to plate any runs. In the top of the sixth, the Royals moved ahead for good on Bobby Witt Jr.’s two-out RBI infield single.

“When you lose like this, there's frustration, there's anger, there's disappointment,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Because you felt like there were opportunities there in those couple games to change the score, and it didn't happen.”

The pitching couldn’t be faulted. Corbin Burnes tossed eight-plus innings of one-run ball in Game 1, performing like the ace everybody expected him to be in his first (and perhaps only) season in Baltimore. Zach Eflin (a Trade Deadline acquisition who is returning next year) allowed one run over four innings in Game 2, before the bullpen combined for five innings of one-run ball.

The offense didn’t come close to holding up its end.

“We had some opportunities, and we went out there and battled our butts off,” said shortstop Gunnar Henderson, who struck out to end the Series. “It was close games, and [we] just didn’t come through.”

The expectations for the Orioles this season were quite high. How could they not be?

A young core had another year of MLB experience under its belt and had gotten a small taste of the postseason. Baltimore also swung a blockbuster Feb. 1 trade for Burnes, bringing in a bona fide ace to top its pitching staff.

Anything other than a deeper October run would be viewed as a disappointment -- and it was.

“I believe in this group. There’s so much talent in here and so many just good baseball players that I’m shocked, and it sucks,” first baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn said. “A little bit embarrassing, honestly. I feel like we let the fans down.”

“The thing that’s disappointing is just the fact we have this group of guys, and you can see how close they are, and you want to be playing for a World Series,” Rutschman said. “That’s been our goal all year, and to not make it to that point is obviously a letdown.”

As hard as it may have been for the Orioles to already start looking ahead to 2025, their future still appears bright. Even if the franchise’s postseason losing streak reached 10 games dating back to 2014 -- tied for the fourth longest in AL/NL history -- it doesn’t remove the talent that flows throughout the organization.

This group that Elias constructed still has the potential to bring a fourth World Series championship to Baltimore down the line.

“It’s going to sting a little bit. It hurts the heart, you know?” Westburg said. “Spending all season with these guys, and it ends that quickly. It just sucks. But all we can do is build on that. All we can do is remember this feeling, take what momentum we did build toward the end there and come into Spring Training in February ready to roll, ready to play with a chip on our shoulder and do it all over again.”

And then, find a way over this October hump.

Because the O’s really don’t want to experience this yet again. They don’t plan to, either.

“Just get back in these situations,” Henderson said. “I feel like the more we’re in it, the better prepared we’re going to be.”