A spring training happening in deep cover down in Sarasota is a week into Grapefruit League games, and the Orioles are less than a month away from beginning what will be a uniquely challenging season.
It’s another year of pandemic baseball, and another year of rebuilding and the talent deficiencies that come with it. That much hasn’t changed. Neither has many of the players involved.
Perhaps there will be a spring training in the next few years in which there’s a palpably different feeling and the team believes it’s ready to win. Even without any direct access to the team, it doesn’t seem as if that’s this year.