Brandon Hyde and the Baltimore Orioles are heading into a 2024 campaign that will surely be a bit foreign to them. After all the success they achieved in 2023, the Orioles will now be entering the upcoming season with some heightened expectations, and they may be a bit more difficult to achieve given the current state of the American League East.
The Orioles came from out of nowhere to win their division last year, and while they crashed out of the playoffs, chances are they will be expected to at least make it back to the postseason again in 2024. Hyde knows that there are more expectations surrounding the team entering their next campaign, but he doesn’t appear to be worried about them in the slightest.
Via Roch Kubatko:
“Hyde: ‘I’m not even worried about projections or what people think. We have enough to take care of in this clubhouse and try to get ready for a season. Honestly, people can say what they want or predict certain things. I means absolutely nothing to us.'”
Brandon Hyde, Orioles working on blocking out the noise
The Orioles were an underdog team that exceeded expectations all year long in 2023, but they don’t have the liberty of having no expectations anymore. After a strong 2023 campaign, fans are going to be looking for Baltimore to win early and often, and if they struggle, they will surely be hearing it from folks because of the new circumstances they find themselves in.
Despite all that, Hyde is unphased heading into the new season. The Orioles can’t get too caught up in expectations of what they should do, or else they will struggle. If Baltimore can go out and play with the same chip on their shoulder they had last year, they will be fine, and it seems like that’s exactly what Hyde is going to attempt to have his team do.
More must-reads: