Monopoly Deal-loving Orioles feel like theyll only get better: Were good, by the way

Publish date: 2024-05-26

BALTIMORE — Kyle Gibson, who played with the Texas Rangers in 2020 and 2021, woke up early one morning in April when the Orioles were in Arlington — their first road trip of the year — and met the Rangers clubhouse attendants for a game of Monopoly Deal. Gibson had done the same thing last year as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies when they went down to Texas.

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The 35-year-old starter was playing the card game when a bunch of his Baltimore teammates walked by. “Were you playing Monopoly Deal?” pitcher Cole Irvin asked him later that morning. “I love that game.”

Gibson was gobsmacked. He’d never seen anyone but the clubbies play the card version of the classic board game, but Irvin was excited enough that the Rangers clubbies gifted them their Monopoly Deal set. On the team plane home the next night, two other players joined Gibson and Irvin in a game of Monopoly Deal. Now, Gibson and Irvin estimate the guys who’ve played are in the double digits. On free nights on the road, they’ll pack into a hotel room.

In the three-and-a-half months since the Orioles scored their Monopoly Deal set, as they’ve established themselves as one of the best teams in baseball on the field, they’ve kept tinkering with the rules off of it.

How could they make Monopoly Deal more of a team game? They raised the stakes: Teams had to collect eight sets of property and not three. If you got a jail card your partner can pay your bail, so you don’t skip a turn. Irvin, Gibson and relievers Danny Coulombe and Mike Baumann have been the main arbiters of the new rules, coming up with ways to change what the “Pass Go” card means or how to add more strategic elements.

“We have a lot of things that we’ve created that are a lot of fun,” said Irvin, who is in his fifth big-league season and first with Baltimore. “We probably should get in touch with Monopoly, really.”

The second-place Orioles (57-36), who had their eight-game winning streak snapped with a loss to the Dodgers on Monday, are not just rewriting card game rules. They’re revising the expectations of those outside their clubhouse who didn’t believe they would be competitive. They’re rejuvenating a fan base that has pretty consistently packed Camden Yards in support of the Homer Hose and Sprinkler celebration for extra-base hits. They’re making people around baseball realize, even as the Tampa Bay Rays jumped out to a historic start: The American League East race is far from over.

Cedric Mullins drinks from the hose after homering on July 14 against the Marlins. (Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)

The Orioles, a team that lost 100-plus games in all three of the full seasons from 2018-2021, started the season with a 10.4 percent chance to make the playoffs according to FanGraphs, the fourth-lowest odds in baseball. Entering Monday, the Orioles’ postseason probability was up to 80.1 percent.

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“The guys that have been here for a while, (I’m) so happy for them honestly,” manager Brandon Hyde said of guys like Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle who have been through the team’s rebuild. “For going through a few tough years to start their career here and from May on last year to watch them have the success that they’ve had, to feel winning and learning how to win, understanding what winning takes. That’s been extremely enjoyable.”

On Friday, in the first game of a series against the Marlins they’d go on to sweep, the O’s moved to 20 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2014 season and for the first time before August since 1997. In ‘14, they ran away with the AL East title and advanced to the AL Championship Series before getting swept by the Royals. That winter, they let Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz walk and failed to make any major acquisitions. The window was shut, as the O’s haven’t won a playoff game since.

This 2023 group, though, is just beginning. The Orioles have an average 40-man roster age of 28, but an enviable core under that number in catcher Adley Rutschman (25), infielders Gunnar Henderson (22) and Jordan Westburg (24), outfielder Colton Cowser (23), and pitchers Kyle Bradish (26) and Grayson Rodriguez (23), who returned from Triple-A Norfolk to start Monday’s game. They haven’t been swept in a three-game series since Rutschman debuted last May, going 124-91 since the young catcher’s arrival. Over the weekend, a few players realized Cowser — promoted on July 5 — had yet to witness a big-league loss.

“You have a really similar makeup (to the reigning National League champion Phillies) except just flip the ages of players,” Gibson said. “So whereas we had a lot of veterans last year, we have a lot of young guys (in Baltimore). I think in three to four years, maybe even sooner, you’re gonna have just as many bonafide studs and superstars as that (Phillies) team already has established. That’s where I see this team. That’s how good I think these guys are. It was easy to look around that room in spring training and understand that this team’s gonna catch fire.”

The Orioles are five years removed from the Manny Machado midseason trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers that kickstarted their rebuild, one that general manager Mike Elias took over after the 2018 season. Their record gave way to an enviable amateur draft position and a renewed focus on international players to help speed up the oft-painful climb back to relevance. But as much as the organization deserves credit for the players it drafted and developed — rival executives rave about their ability to churn out young hitters — there’s been an equally impressive surge from the not-so-young guys, a credit to co-hitting coaches Matt Borgschulte and Ryan Fuller, who have churned out a lineup incredibly good at hitting fast pitches. The O’s rank second in baseball in wOBA on pitches that are at least 95 mph.

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There’s 29-year-old Ryan O’Hearn who was acquired from the Royals in a blink-and-you-missed-it transaction and batted cleanup on Monday. O’Hearn, who is batting .304 with an .866 OPS has one of the best exit velocities in baseball and hit a ball 109 mph on Monday. Or 31-year-old Adam Frazier, who has 12 home runs through July after hitting three in Seattle all of last year.

Aaron Hicks and Jordan Westburg celebrate Hicks’ three-run home run against the Twins on July 9. (Jeffrey Becker / USA Today)

Aaron Hicks, 33, carried the team during Mullins’ injury. After the Yankees released Hicks, who posted a .188/.263/.261 with a .524 OPS in 28 games with New York, regular playing time and prioritizing his in-box posture helped Hicks turn things around. In his first 35 games with the Orioles, Hicks is hitting .255 with an .826 OPS and Hyde has raved about Hicks’ positivity and enthusiasm. On Monday afternoon, though, he was still salty about losing to Irvin in Monopoly Deal, a fair assessment, he jokes, as the pitcher ribs him.

Good teams like each other. These Orioles are, according to guys in the clubhouse, on another level. You have to be to eschew exploring different cities or going to fancy dinners or concerts on the road in favor of playing a card game with the same guys you’ve been around nonstop since February.

“This group came together real quick, real quick. It has a lot to do with trusting each other when we’re behind in games,” Irvin said, pointing out that no team has more comeback wins (33) than the Orioles. “So, just that closeness, that camaraderie like we don’t ever feel out of it, but we keep each other focused. And it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been really enjoyable.”

The Orioles’ July surge has been fueled by pitching, the logical spot for the team to upgrade — particularly in middle relief — at this year’s trade deadline. Their rotation, which also includes Tyler Wells and Dean Kremer, is another area of concern as the young arms will certainly be on innings limits and Irvin was recently moved to the bullpen. There are always ways to improve good teams and Baltimore has the kind of enviable prospect capital and big-league roster depth to make a move happen.

Hot Aprils are written off as fast starts. By May, front offices are still waiting with bated breath to see what they have. The Orioles’ June, uneven in spots, is perhaps the great indicator of how far they’ve come as multiple players lament games and series they let get away. No longer is winning four of 10 and being “close” in others good enough. They feel they should have had seven, or even eight of those games.

“Honestly, it was a team that felt like the 80 to 100 games last year where they were really good … they knew that that was real and not fake,” Gibson said. “I think everybody in spring had confidence going into the year like, ‘Hey, we’re good, by the way.’”

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It’s the rest of the baseball world that’s catching up.

(Top photo of Kyle Gibson: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today)

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