BURY THE FLAG - IF THE O'S WISH TO BE A BIG TEAM NOW, THEY GOT TO START ACTING LIKE IT

Mario Russo

By the time Aroldis Garcia’s home run ball punctured the second deck of Globe Life Field in game three of the ALDS, the Baltimore Orioles' defying season came to an abrupt stop. The team with an American League best 101-61 record was in the middle of getting played out of the ballpark by the Texas Rangers - a group that finished with 11 more losses and just as many fewer wins than the O’s throughout the regular season.

Dean Kremer - who was given the game three start with Baltimore’s back against the wall - trotted around the pitching mound in confusion as the ball disappeared into a sea of red and white jerseys. Sentiments of surprise jousted upon his face with feelings of fear and frustration.

Like the rest of his teammates around the diamond, Kremer was overwhelmed by the Rangers’ relentless attack. In that moment, the Orioles went unresponsive. Their postseason inexperience swallowed them up, only to spit out a corpse tangled in a white flag of defeat and diminishment.

In the bottom of the second inning, trailing the Rangers 6-0, the Orioles gave up on their season of dreams.

Six hits and a lonesome run was all they could muster up over the final seven innings to try and ease their way into the offseason. Whether the O’s made the game close or not, the headline on their season would still read the same.

100+ win team swept at the hands of a Wild Card winner.

The Orioles have downplayed the exit ever since the conclusion of last night’s game. Words of their pre-season critics and projections (being a 76 win team and predicted to finish well outside a division pennant) etched themselves into the clubhouse walls as the loss to the Rangers became more and more of a reality.

The excuses were belted by Baltimore. Taking ownership to being the first top seed to crash out of the postseason picture was merely belittled following their series loss.

Baltimore’s starting pitchers rendered a combined ERA of 14.63 over three postseason contests. The team was unable to erase any of their offensive deficits in the divisional series after leading the MLB in come-from-behind wins this year with 61. They maintained a .287 batting average with runners in scoring position through a 162 game span this season, but didn't even come within .100 points of touching that percentage throughout the ALDS.

This drop off in performance has been blamed on their bye week, their inexperience and their injuries to their elite closer Felix Bautista. As if the club wants the baseball world to forget they finished with the best overall record in the American League.

Surpassing the century mark in wins draws a level of respect that few teams do over the course of a decade - let alone a year. It becomes an identity of the organization, a standard in which everything following the conclusion of that year is compared to and sets out to live up to.

That standard is a luxury, a testament to a team’s development, and a firm initiation to the big boys of the MLB. The Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves of the league. These teams are respected and feared in the postseason every single year, with the final destination on their agenda always being a World Series championship.

Yet in their first postseason appearance since 2016, the Orioles never appeared to shed these feelings of admiration and terror. They were merely stomped on, surprised by the harsh reality of the blow, and quick to excuse themselves from being beat.

The Orioles showed that they didn't belong in this exclusive group of teams after all. Organizations that look to celebrate postseason success over reaching regular-season marks. Teams that show pushback in a series and work towards landing a fatal blow.

100+ teams are not the ones that take it and wave the white flag. Especially in the second inning of an elimination game.

Baltimore came into the postseason unprepared, inexperienced and undeserving of the reward that typically sits at the end of a truly magical season. Adding experience to the pitching staff will be penciled in atop GM Mike Elias’ shopping list this upcoming offseason - as will the inclusion of playoff-proven power bats to the team’s lineup.

With a postseason now under this core’s belt, the experience will ultimately receive the biggest boost and being unprepared may be a thing of the past heading into next season. Yet the biggest obstacle for the Orioles to hurdle remains themselves, the identity of this team and what it wishes to be known as around the major leagues.

Right now, the Baltimore Orioles are the best team in what was the hardest division in baseball this season. They have over 100 wins with some of the game’s best clutch hitters on their starting roster.

They are also winless in the postseason and the first and only one seed to fall out of the race.

If the Orioles wanna make the leap to being one of the big boys in the MLB, they have to start acting like it. Owning up to mistakes, shortcomings and realigning expectations.

That starts with burying the white flag. And never waving it again.