It’s a tough time to be an Orioles’ fan.
Not only did they fail to achieve a double-digit win total in April, they hit a new single game low in attendance at Oriole Park. Even crowds for last week’s Yankees’ series were down, which may also speak to the complacency of New York fans, who still seemed to outnumber the locals.
Nats’ fans can sympathize — but many, likely, do not. They know full well what it’s like for another team’s fans to essentially take over their home park, and they know what dreadful starts are like. A year ago Oriole fans relished in pointing that out to them. So, there’s not much sympathy making its way up the BW Parkway.
It’s reached the point of absurdity. I received an e-mail from one Oriole fan in Montgomery County who claimed he couldn’t support the Nationals because of the music they played at Nationals Park when certain players came to bat. I guess the cultural divide is just too wide for some people.
As a D.C. native who’s lived in the greater Baltimore area since the 1980s, I’ve looked at life from both sides now, from win and lose, and still somehow … wait, that’s a Joni Mitchell lyric … anyway, it fits here. Baltimore fans had such a great run of contending teams with great, Hall of Fame-caliber players. Nationally, they created a lot of fans in the 1960s and ’70s, and it’s hard for many of them now to see a franchise that’s been down for more than a decade, though old Senators’ fans know what it’s like.
The Orioles seem to have a fairly solid core of young players: Nick Markakis, Matt Wieters, Brian Matusz and Adam Jones all have very high upsides. There are some high-ceiling prospects in their farm system. But like many teams, the Orioles have a tendency to greatly overvalue their own kids. The number of young arms they’ve drafted high who later flamed out before reaching the majors is a number they’d prefer to bury.
When the Nationals were brand-new — and pretty competitive — in 2005, they combined with the Orioles to attract nearly 5.5 million fans from the Mid-Atlantic to watch major league baseball. A single ball club, quite obviously, could never attract that many fans. Both markets now have first-class facilities, though neither team is very likely to contend for another year or two.
It’s not much fun when your team falls in a hole, but the trend you see now began last year when the Nationals finished 33-37 in their final 70 games, while the Orioles went 23-47 over the same stretch. Two straight seasons of 100-plus losses turned off a number of Nationals’ fans, and in Baltimore, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find anyone wearing Orioles’ gear walking around town. But, hey, nobody’s bad forever, and nobody’s good forever. The Nationals’ fortunes are currently on the rise, but everyone will be better off when both teams are competitive at the same time.
Phil Wood is a contributor to Nats Xtra on MASN. Contact him at [email protected].
