Baltimore Orioles: These Birds Need to Fly

Bill MckillopSep 2, 2009

Last night, the Baltimore Orioles were mathematically eliminated from the AL East crown for 2009 at the hands of the New York Yankees.

The Orioles are in the midst of a 12 year a slump. They have playoff appearances dating back to 1996, when they were the AL Wild Card team, and 1997, as the division winner, but they have been caged in the basement ever since.

The Orioles have one of the toughest roads to travel, playing in the AL East and facing the Yankees, Red Sox, and a much-improved Tampa Bay Rays team each season.

I think it’s great that the owners of the Yankees and Red Sox spend the money to give the fans a winner and also increase the team's revenues. It is tough for the Orioles to tell their fan base that they will compete for a division or Wild Card when they have to go up against two of the biggest spenders in all of baseball.

The Orioles have not done so well against division rivals this season and it has been one big reason they are buried in the standings.

Baltimore vs. AL East (2007, 2008, 2009)

BOS—14-35
NYY—19-31
TOR—20-28
TAM—19-27

The Birds do have hope for the future with a core of good young players in Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, Felix Pie, and Adam Jones to build around and compete. The players have given the fans in Baltimore something to look forward to.

The Orioles in 1996 and 1997 were one of the top teams in payroll, wins, and attendance. In both years, the Orioles were getting 45,000 fans per night and winning games. In 2009, they only get 24,000 per night.

I don’t think that many Orioles fans have left the city and lost interest in baseball (Just look at their 1996 and 1997 attendances).

The Orioles have the potential to draw around three million fans per year if they had a winning, playoff formula. But right now, they are lucky to draw two million. Baltimore is a prime example of why I think baseball needs to adopt four divisions per league and two wild cards.

The fans of Baltimore have very little hope, if any, to win due to the economics of the game. The Oriole fans should not be made to suffer so other markets can do well.

Major League Baseball, let the Birds fly once again.

The whole plan can be viewed here.