On the eve of last year’s Opening Day for the Orioles in Boston, MLB’s decision to expand the playoff field to eight teams per league fueled a bemusing yet pervasive sense of “anything can happen” surrounding the rebuilding club’s chances of a successful season.
Mileage may vary as to whether that came to fruition; a team that was competitive all year long and in the playoff hunt until the last week of the season still had the fifth-worst record in all of baseball.
Inarguably, though, those Orioles were a better and more enjoyable team than a year before, with rookies like Ryan Mountcastle and breakout stars like Anthony Santander and glimpses of success from familiar faces like Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays and DJ Stewart.