X marks the spot: Orioles historic playoff futility continues with Wild Card loss

As Yogi Berra would say, "It's like deja vu all over again". The Baltimore Orioles season came to an abrupt end on Wednesday as they were once again swept out of the playoffs. Years were spent rebuilding this franchise into a perennial contender that had the best record in the American League in 2023 and the third best record in 2024. As great as both regular seasons were, they both ended the same way.

The O's have now gone winless in a franchise record 10 consecutive postseason games. The previous mark was four straight losses between 1979, when they lost the final three games of the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and 1983 (they lost game one of the ALCS to the Chicago White Sox). But we all know things got better after that.

The current streak started in 2014. That team was full of fan favorites like Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, J.J. Hardy and Nelson Cruz, who led the majors in homers that season. Chris Tillman was the ace of the staff, while Wei-Yin Chen led the team with 16 wins and Zack Britton was becoming one of the league's best closers. There was a lot of excitement around that team that won 96 games and the AL East title.

That excitement grew as the Birds swept the Detroit Tigers 3-0 in the ALDS. That excitement was quickly trounced, however, as they Orioles were then swept by the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. The O's best chance for a win came in game one of the series, when they came back from four runs down to force extra innings, but the Royals scored three in the tenth and held on to win by two. All of the games were tightly contested but the Royals proved to be just too much.

Orioles can't find answers for historic losing streak in MLB playoffs

The Orioles' next chance in the playoffs came two years later in a Wild Card game against the Toronto Blue Jays. That was a single elimination game when there were just two Wild Card teams. That game became one of the most controversial games in recent Orioles history when manager Buck Showalter infamously brought in Ubaldo Jimenez in the bottom of the 11th inning instead of Britton, his all-star closer. Jimenez gave up two straight singles followed by a monster home run to Edwin Encarnacion that sent the Orioles home for the winter.

It was eight years before the Birds would return to the playoffs. The 2023 team exceeded all expectations with a 101 win season. Oriole magic was running wild as the O's seemed to find ways to win games in the late innings all season long. Unfortunately the magic ran out at the worst moment. Most of the starting pitchers were well beyond their previous highs in innings pitched and a hot hitting Texas Rangers team ran through them like a hot knife through butter. After not getting swept by a team all season, the O's were again swept out of the playoffs.

After the 2023 season, fans were very forgiving about the playoff showing. Everyone knew the team was over-achieving and ahead of schedule. Gunnar Henderson was Rookie of the Year, Brandon Hyde was the Manager of the Year, Mike Elias was the Executive of the Year and next year would be even better. The feelings from many are not the same this year.

After the Orioles were swept by the Royals in the Wild Card round this season, many fans have been calling for some big changes to be made. While some changes are sure to happen, they won't be big changes. The core of the team is still very young and David Rubenstein will have his first full offseason to help make this team better. Not to mention the returns of Kyle Bradish, Felix Bautista and others.

The Orioles are going to be good for a long time, and even though windows to win a World Series don't stay open forever, there is still time for this team to get better. Their window isn't closed. Just like the Brooklyn Dodgers always said, "Wait 'til next year".