The Baltimore Orioles are heading into an important season in franchise history, even if they aren’t expecting to become competitive in the American League East right away. The team is undergoing an overhaul to where they are hoping that they can get back to the top of the American League in the near future, meaning that the most important thing for the Baltimore Orioles is finding out exactly what they have going forward.
As is expected when going through a rebuild like the one that the Orioles are currently on, the current roster is filled with young players. All-Star third baseman Manny Machado was sent away last season so the team could move on, for example, meaning that the team has plenty of places for young talent to prove itself. And that is what this season is about for the players: proving themselves.
When rebuilding, the philosophy is generally to reduce payroll and find out which younger and less expensive players can be a legitimate part of a future championship team. From there, the players who show that they can be useful on a contender in the team’s future plans, as the team will attempt to lure more high-profile talent to surround the exciting youth.
Of course, that plan doesn’t translate to wins in the season to come, as the Orioles are projected to be at or near the bottom of Major League Baseball. World Series MLB odds at bet365 have the Orioles with the worst championship odds in the league at +60000. And while that doesn’t sound like a cause for optimism, there is a reason to be optimistic for Orioles fans.
One of the biggest reasons for optimism for the Orioles in the 2019 season is their commitment to the rebuilding effort. Among the main takeaways from spring training was the fact that the team isn’t planning on letting anything get in the way of their attempts to build this roster and team up the right way, rather than getting impatient and overspending to bring in someone that they think can fix the squad overnight.
Additionally, a reason to be optimistic about this season is the fact that the Orioles are going to have a new look to them. Watching Machado was exciting, of course, but seeing an entire group of new players and a new manager in Brandon Hyde means that if nothing else that the Orioles will be a different team this year. And when the team has struggled the way it has in previous seasons, it couldn’t possibly hurt to see something new.
Playing in arguably the best division in baseball, the Orioles are going to have some growing pains as they go through their rebuild. Any team that has close to 40 games against the Yankees and Red Sox on their schedule is due to take some lumps, after all. But the Orioles seem poised to stay the course and figure out what they can do to create a winner on the field in the not too distant future, and that is cause for optimism to be certain.
