Looking back on 2023 season filled with Orioles surprises and achievements

Mike Elias expressed confidence on Feb. 3, the first day of the Birdland Caravan, that the Orioles would concentrate on contending. The rebuild “is behind us,” he said. They were set up to be “a very competitive team for years.”

Then, they exceeded expectations by country miles.

They’d love to stick with the old script in the new year, with deletions made in the postseason chapter. Not another one-and-done scenario, swept out of the Division Series and sent back to Baltimore in crushed packaging.

The ball dropping in Times Square won't create the same thud as the ending to the Orioles’ season. However, those 101 victories and the many awards that followed allowed 2023 to rank among the best in franchise history.

Some people might say it all began on the first day of spring training, when Elias, now entering his sixth season as executive vice president/general manager, surprised the media by revealing that reliever Dillon Tate would go on the injured list with a strained flexor/forearm that could keep him out until May, and closer Félix Bautista would be slow-played while doing exercises to strengthen his left knee and right shoulder. No promises that he'd be ready for Opening Day.

Tate never pitched in 2023. Bautista was the American League’s top reliever but won’t pitch in 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

We had an unexpected roster addition and subtraction at the end of camp, with the Orioles purchasing left-hander Danny Coulombe’s contract from the Twins and optioning starter Grayson Rodriguez after his disappointing showing in exhibition games.

Coulombe lasted throughout the summer and was a high-leverage reliever. Rodriguez returned to make an April 5 start in his home state of Texas after Kyle Bradish was injured on a comebacker that nailed him on the foot, was optioned again after a disastrous outing against the Rangers on May 26, returned in July and posted a 2.58 ERA and 1.096 WHIP in 13 games in the second half.

Bradish, of course, would go on to finish fourth in AL Cy Young voting after starting Game 1 of the Division Series. He might get the ball on Opening Day, the current favorite for the assignment while Elias searches for another starter.

Opening Day 2023 brought a wild 10-9 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Adley Rutschman went 5-for-5 with a home run, walk and four RBIs – in 38-degree weather.

A stone cold killer.

Rutschman was the first player to go 5-for-5 or better with at least four RBIs on Opening Day, and only the third to go 5-for-5 with multiple RBIs in an opener since 1920, joining Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Billy Herman. Rutschman and Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk in 1973 were the only catchers since 1901 to homer and reach base at least four times in their first opener. Rutschman stood alone among catchers to homer and get on base five times or more.

Should have known right there that 2023 would be unforgettable.

Ryan McKenna committed one error in 99 chances and he’d like to forget it. Fans won’t let him.

The normally sure-handed McKenna dropped Masataka Yoshida’s fly ball in left field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Orioles leading the Red Sox 8-7 in Game 2 of the season. It hit the bottom of his glove and fell to the ground, which McKenna called “unfortunate timing.”

It got worse when Adam Duvall hit a two-run homer off Félix Bautista, who also struggled in the opener, slipping some fans into early panic mode. But Bautista would have recorded the save if not for the miscue.

The Orioles would have won the series but instead lost two of three. As I wrote on April 3, baseball isn’t boring. It’s just so darn unpredictable and doesn’t care about your feelings.

Reliever Bryan Baker registered the first of his four wins on April 11, but that isn’t what we’ll remember about the night. Ryan Mountcastle homered twice, including a 456-foot grand slam to left field off Dany Jiménez, and tied the club record with nine RBIs. He was the first to do it at home.

Mountcastle didn't know he had nine RBIs until former assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes told him later.

"He's like, 'Do you know you have nine RBIs?'" Mountcastle said. "I had no clue. I was like, 'That's a lot, man.'"

The Orioles threw an offensive party in someone else’s house on July 6. Rookie Gunnar Henderson played host.

Henderson collected four hits in four innings at Yankee Stadium, including a pair of home runs, in a 14-1 victory. Twelve batters came to the plate in the top of the third. A Bronx bummer for New Yorkers.

The Orioles pounded out 20 hits. They led 12-0 in the fourth. The tops of game stories were rewritten multiple times.

Curt Blefary is the only Orioles player younger than the 22-year-old Henderson with two home runs and four hits in a game, on July 3, 1965 during his rookie season. Henderson’s also the first player with two homers and four hits in the first four innings since the Cardinals’ Matt Carpenter on July 20, 2018 against the Cubs – who had Brandon Hyde as their bench coach.

Henderson also joined Chris Richard in 2000 as the lone Orioles rookies with four hits and five RBIs in a game.

"I just felt like I was really sticking to my approach," Henderson said afterward. "Felt like no matter what they were throwing, I was sticking to it, and really trusted myself today."

Mike Bordick in 1999 is the only other Orioles player with seven at-bats in a nine-inning game. But the historic significance of Henderson's performance didn't reach him.

"I just felt like I had a lot of at-bats and the game wasn't even halfway over," he said with a laugh. "Ended up with seven on the day, so that was pretty funny."

Henderson already was named the AL’s Rookie of the Month in June, which included his 462-foot home run onto Eutaw Street on the 11^th. The longest ball ever hit onto Eutaw, according to Statcast data.

Ryan O’Hearn homered and reached base five times for the first time in his career, but everyone was talking about Henderson, who came within a triple of the cycle and demolished a Jackson Kowar slider.

The exit velocity was 113.8 mph, and Henderson stood at the plate with bat in hand and watched its flight until it hit the warehouse on one bounce.

"I feel like when I finally get to the man-strength phase,” Henderson said, “I might be able to get a little bit further.”

Just another of the many memorable moments in 2023.

Rutschman put on a show in the Home Run Derby, switching sides of the plate with his father throwing to him. Twenty-one from the left and six from the right.

The Orioles had four representatives in the All-Star Game, the first time since 2016 that they sent more than one.

“How about that? So cool,” said Hyde, who gleefully delivered the news in the clubhouse by calling out Rutschman, Bautista, Yennier Cano and Austin Hays.

“We’re (16) games over .500, and to do that in the American League East and our schedule, there’s got to be a lot of people doing things well.”

Bautista was charged with the loss after surrendering a two-run homer to Rockies catcher Elias Díaz. But the most painful moment for Bautista was the partially torn ligament in his right elbow on Aug. 25.

The extent of the injury was confirmed later.

“Obviously, (he’s) very disappointed, upset, and rightfully so,” Hyde said. “It was hard to watch him get the news. I just feel for the guy. I love the guy so much that it’s hard to watch somebody in pain like that.”

“Early indications from the diagnostics that we’ve done is he’s got some degree of injury to his ulnar collateral ligament,” Elias said the next day. “I think anyone can go on Google and find the spectrum of outcomes or possibilities that that might entail.”

Yeah, we all did it.

Josh Lester collected his first major league hits and RBIs. Mountcastle went 11-for-13 with four doubles, six RBIs, five runs scored and three walks during a four-game series in Toronto on July 31-Aug. 3. Cedric Mullins led the world in highlight-worthy catches. John Means returned from Tommy John surgery and carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in Cleveland.

The Orioles tied the Reds for most comeback wins with 48. They weren’t swept in a series until October, which we aren’t counting against their streak of 91 in a row. They went 49-32 at home, 52-29 on the road to tie the 1997 team for best away record, and 32-20 against the AL East. And they ranked among the youngest clubs in the majors.

They tied the Mariners for most 1-0 wins in the majors with four, including Anthony Santanders’s walk-off homer against the Yankees on July 28. Their pitchers set a franchise record with 1,431 strikeouts. They also were the first baseball team flagged for a false start, with the stadium lease scoreboard announcement in September, but they got it done before the Dec. 31 deadline.

They had two champagne- and beer-soaked clubhouse celebrations, after clinching a playoff berth and a division title. We wondered if they’d choose only one, but it became risky with the Rays breathing down their necks for the AL East crown.

Orange T-shirts were passed around on the field that read “Take October” after the Sept. 17 11-inning win over the Rays. Players embraced and lingered, in no hurry to separate from fans who cheered them. Orioles began applauding the crowd after taking a group photo.

Veteran Kyle Gibson provided a voice of experience in the clubhouse as players slipped on their goggles. His mentoring never stopped.

“You don’t need glasses,” he said, providing one of the year’s best quotes. “The burn’s the best part.”

An entire organization roasted critics and doubters who thought the Orioles would regress from their 83-win season in 2022.

“We were disrespected, honestly, going into this year,” Hyde said after the Orioles clinched their playoff berth. “Just from where we were from projections, smart people thinking they know what the records are gonna be at the end of the year, casinos, etc. I thought we were underappreciated. Everybody thought we were going to have a setback this year. I wanted our players to be offended by that a little bit, the guys that were here last year. I thought that wasn’t accurate. I thought we were going to be better than everybody thought.”