Last week, the Baltimore Orioles media team released a documentary about the success of the 2023 team titled “101: The Story of the 2023 Baltimore Orioles.”
While watching the hour-and-a-half flick, I personally noticed three things that I found particularly interesting. These three things continued to catch my eye the more I reflected and took in the documentary.
Do they have any significance? Did they impact the season as a whole and/or the results of said season? Well, I’ll let you decide.
1. The Orioles bullpen meshed really well
The 2023 Orioles bullpen was lights out for the majority of the season. The collective group was fifth in ERA (3.55), fifth in saves (49), first in holds (108) and 12th in batting average against (.236). But, what I found most interesting was how well the guys meshed together off the mound.
Early in the documentary, members of the O’s pitching staff were gathered in a circle and just flipped a water bottle to see if it would land upward, laughing and carrying on about their silly competition. I honestly didn’t think much of it, as everyone does that nowadays. But it was later in the documentary when the comradery hit its peak.
Orioles left-hander Danny Coulombe was mic’d up and discussed with then-newly-acquired Japanese righty Shintaro Fujinami about the “American slang term of the day.” Fuji would play along by giving Coulombe a Japanese term. This was certainly a fun and unique way to connect and bond in the pen.
The documentary also showed where the bullpen crew put on a show and messed with right-hander Mike Baumann while he was getting interviewed in the middle of the game against the New York Mets. That moment is when it all come together. This bullpen meshed really well on and off the field and found some way to have fun with each other every day while waiting for their number to be called.
When you’re having fun out there, that is usually a product of success. The O’s demonstrated that perfectly this past year.
2. Félix Bautista’s demeanor on his way to the mound the night of his injury
One of the primary moments of the documentary was closer Félix Bautista’s injury on August 24, against the Colorado Rockies. That injury hurt the team tremendously, as arguably the best closer in all of baseball exited the game after an awkward release.
However, when watching the moments before he came into that game, it seemed like Bautista’s demeanor was off.
As Bautista jogged to the mound, his face seemed as if he was either in some discomfort or had some worry. While at the time no one noticed or thought about it, now that we see what happened in that moment, it really raises concern whether Bautista was feeling discomfort in the bullpen or had a sense that something wasn’t quite right prior to his appearance.
Obviously, we now know the current situation, as The Mountain will miss the entire 2024 season after undergoing successful Tommy John surgery in October. If you want to watch this yourself, start at 57:22 in the documentary on YouTube.
3. Brandon Hyde is the perfect players’ manager
It’s obvious that Brandon Hyde is a great manager for the Orioles, but from watching his interviews and reactions to certain moments, Hyde is the perfect players’ manager.
The way I explain being a players’ manager is that you obviously do what you can to be successful, but you also do whatever you can to keep morale high. Hyde had so many moments during the season that made me say this, but the documentary confirmed it.
The reason I say this is because of what Hyde himself said about the celebration of when the Orioles clinched a postseason spot. The documentary showed the celebration and how everyone was hyped for playing October baseball, but Hyde explained that the celebration was supposed to be light, as they played the following day.
Hyde also explained that the reason the plans changed is because he wanted the young players to experience as much celebration as possible in case they didn’t win the AL East. I think it also helped that the win for the postseason berth was a walk-off thriller against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Final Thoughts
I honestly think that the Orioles social media team put together a masterpiece of a documentary. While the postseason did not go the O’s way, it was nice to go back and watch moments that showed the true heart and soul of this team.
Oriole fans had gone nine long years without seeing a division championship and have gone seven without a postseason berth. It was a year of pure Orioles Magic in Charm City.
I highly recommend that if you still haven’t watched this documentary, to go ahead and watch it whether you are an Orioles fan or a baseball fan in general.
What are your thoughts on the documentary? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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