Not only are the Orioles leading Major League Baseball in the wins column, but they are teaching quite a lesson on resiliency. Stacked into what most sports specialists consider the hardest schedules even after playing the Yankees 18 times and the Red Sox 19 times. The Orioles have still managed to pull away from the pack.

“Everyone is contributing big time,” said Orioles fanatic Lucien Heilbronner ’15. “We’ve got something really special going on.”

This season the Orioles have dealt with impactful injuries. Catcher Matt Wieters was out for the majority of the season with Tommy John surgery, and third- baseman Manny Machado recently underwent season- ending knee surgery.

Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter and the O’s have also been weighed down by first- baseman Chris Davis’ suspension who was banned for 25 games after testing positive for amphetamines, which carries over far into the postseason.  

“Chris Davis really needs to think about the team rather than just himself,” said baseball player and Orioles fan Lucas Elliott ’15. “He really hurt us for those eight postseason games.”

“I talked to the position players in the advance meeting like I always do,” said Showalter in an article in the Baltimore Sun on the topic of how the rest of the Orioles club found out about the news of Davis’s suspension. “I wanted them to know everything I knew, all the stuff that might be floating out there and exactly what I know. You’re trying to put rumors and what have you (aside) and make sure you put it in the light that it should be put in.”

Even with all those troubles, both the Orioles players and fans have remained extremely positive and optimistic about going into the playoffs with sights set on bringing home the World Series Championship to Baltimore.

“Ultimately pitching will determine whether or not the O’s will win their 4^th World Series title,” said Social Studies teacher Robert Greenwood. “I’m optimistic because we have balance in the pitching rotation and a fantastic bullpen #GOBIRDSORGOHOME.”

Baltimore knows how to keep that Oriole magic alive and Camden Yards hasn’t been this black and orange in years.