Orioles Fly, Nats Stink, D.C. Basbeball Fans Contemplate Light Rail

Six games into the 2009 Major League Baseball season, local baseball fans deserve a heap of credit regarding their assessment. Most folks knew that the Baltimore Orioles had good offense, but would struggle in the middle of their pitching rotation.

Conversely, these same folks knew that the Washington Nationals would offer nothing of worth in the way of competitive baseball, and with their home opener just a few hours away, Philadelphia Phillies fans coming in all of their hoagie-throwing, profanity-laced, World Series-glazed glory will let the Capital City know as much.

And, believe it or not, professional baseball in the region is better for it.

The Baltimore Sun’s David Steele put it best concerning the Os-Nats rivalry for regional fans:

"There’s very little to pick at Peter Angelos about the past two years, and certainly not Monday night, with the road jerseys. In Washington, meanwhile, the Lerner family is fighting the city over…paying the rent?"

The bad news is that Baltimore and Washington play in two of the best divisions in all of baseball, and the closest they can ever hope for is a run for a post-season wild card berth. If they won’t be killed by the payrolls of teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, or Phillies, then they will certainly be done in by the strong farm systems of the Rays and Marlins.

The good news is that imbalanced talent and expectations in the region balances out the money making opportunities for both clubs. You’re always going to have loyalists and business types who go to the games just because there are stadiums nearby, but D.C. baseball fans now have the choice of watching a bad baseball team play down the street against the best in the National League, or a so-far decent baseball team play just 50 miles up the road against the best teams in the entire American League.

Now that’s a choice that local baseball consumers can believe in.

The Orioles and the Nationals have too much history of bad baseball to really polarize the region, so we might as well let fate unite us in the search for the misery that is less searing to the heart and soft on the eyes. For now, Camden Yards welcomes you.

And who knows? Maybe the Nationals begin a home streak that will have Charm City faithful heading south this summer. Either way, the choice of mediocre baseball is one we all should relish.

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