It’s been five years since the Baltimore Orioles qualified for MLB’s postseason, and the team’s form in 2021 was so wretched that they were never likely to bring that record to a halt. Yes, it’s a major inconvenience that they have to play in the AL East, which by all accounts remains the strongest division in baseball, but that’s no excuse for the Orioles’ hapless 52-110 record.
Brandon Hyde’s men are once again considered the likely recipients of the MLB wooden spoon in 2022, with their World Series odds of +50000 reflective of their perceived chances. Maryland is, of course, amongst the first batch of US states to legalize gambling, however, realistically, only die-hard fans of the Orioles would place a fun wager on the eventuality of a parade down Eutaw Street. Bookmakers offering Maryland sports betting bonuses include enticing free bets and risk-free wagers, which, given the weakness of the Baltimore outfit’s pitching division – evidenced by the number of home runs hit against them at Camden Yards – is the only way that most would be tempted to have a flutter.
So, if you can’t beat them, join them. And if you can’t beat or join them, then make your home field bigger so that they can hit fewer home runs. That’s the strategic thinking being deployed by the decision-makers at Camden Yards, who have revealed that they are extending the playing area at the venue by a considerable margin.
The Great Wall of Baltimore
On the left-field side of the Orioles’ home field, officials have announced a plan to move the wall back some 30 ft – a distance that, by all accounts, should make a considerable amount of difference to the number of homers struck.
In theory, the move will hamper the Orioles’ progress too – they ranked seventeenth in home runs hit in 2021, but the bigger picture is that it will protect their weak pitching core from being exposed to the MLB’s best hitters on a weekly basis.
The changes — the first to the size of the iconic Camden Yards’ playing area in two decades — will raise the left-field wall’s height from 7 feet to about 12 feet and move it back as much as 30 feet, according to information provided by the Orioles. https://t.co/97pAmCMNpb
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) January 11, 2022
It’s no coincidence that since 1992, Camden Yards has seen more homers hit year-on-year than any other stadium, and that short distance to the left-field wall has played a major role in that stat. In 2021, the venue saw 27 more home runs hit than the next ‘best’, the Cincinnati Reds’ Great American Ball Park.
Height is also a factor. There are only eight MLB ball-parks with a wall that is 8ft or shorter – Camden Yards is one of them. And so there are plans afoot to increase the size of the left-field wall by as much as 5 ft, which would paradoxically make it one of the tallest in the competition.
Ripken offers opinion on changing dimensions and homers at Camden Yards https://t.co/H5PiTDxZVJ #orioles
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) February 4, 2022
The hope in the Orioles camp is that the structural changes precipitate a change in fortunes. During the 2021 campaign, Baltimore’s pitching ranks conceded a total of 258 homers – at least eleven more than any other team according to the MLB home runs allowed stat. Naturally, a significant proportion of those will have come at Camden Yards.
It will take much more than a strengthening of the barriers to turn the Orioles into a force in baseball again. But for an outfit looking for any possible marginal gain, it can get its hands on, making life more difficult for visiting hitters is a good place to start.
