The game wasn’t important, but that didn’t matter to the 43,150 fans at Camden Yards on Saturday.
The announced crowd was the sixth sellout of the season, as Baltimore fans showed out for the last night game of the 2023 regular season (and the hoodie giveaway, of course). Only three other games this season have produced more fans in the stands, including the traditionally sold-out home opener.
The fans were rewarded with a 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox, the American League East-champion Orioles’ 101st of their historic year. Kyle Gibson pitched five shutout innings and the offense got hot late to carry the Orioles to victory in their penultimate game of the regular season.
“I have a feeling this is going to be a pretty fun place here over the next couple weeks,” Gibson said.
Attendance at Camden Yards this season has largely been positive, as the team has seen one of the largest increases in the majors this season. The total attendance of just over 1.9 million is more than 500,000 above their 2022 gate of 1.37 million, according to Baseball-Reference.
On a per-game basis, almost 7,000 more fans have attended games this year (23,752) compared with last season (16,893) — an increase of 40.6%.
“It’s a total difference,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It’s a huge difference to have 20, 30, 40,000 people here. The buzz in the crowd just brings energy to your team, so hopefully the crowds continue to build, and this place will be loud during the playoffs.
“It’s been a lot of fun to play in front of crowds like tonight.”
The last time the Orioles had attendance this high was in 2017 when the club eclipsed 2 million fans — a benchmark when evaluating attendance, especially for smaller-market teams.
However, attendance this season was worse than in every year between 2012 and 2017 — the last stretch in which the Orioles put a competitive product on the field. In 2014, the last time the club won the AL East, almost 2.5 million fans — over 30,000 per game — flocked to Camden Yards. The Orioles rank 21st of 30 teams in attendance and will finish barely ahead of the nearby Washington Nationals, who drew 1.86 million fans despite having a 70-91 record.
Ryan Mountcastle, one of the players who survived the rebuild, remembers the dark days of empty stands. In 2021, a year impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, 41 of their 81 home games had an attendance less than 10,000 fans. This year, that happened just once.
“It means a lot,” Mountcastle said of the improved attendance. “Us playing well has a lot to do with it. When they show out when we’re playing well, it’s a lot of fun to be around. They always bring great energy.”
While the game didn’t matter for the standings, the win does clinch the Orioles’ winning record against the Red Sox this season. Baltimore has won the season series against every AL East team for the first time since 2014. They are 32-19 against division foes with one game remaining. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Baltimore (101-60) has gone 14 consecutive series against AL East opponents without a series loss — the longest such streak in Orioles history.
The Orioles went a combined 92-173 against the AL East in Hyde’s first four seasons, including a 20-56 mark in 2021′s 110-loss campaign. The year before he was hired, they went 23-53 versus the division, including a 3-16 mark against Boston. Baltimore went 2-17 against the New York Yankees in 2019, 2-8 versus the Toronto Blue Jays in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and 1-18 against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021.
“That’s an incredible accomplishment as well with all the talent and how good the teams are in our division,” Hyde said of winning the season series versus every AL East foe. “It just means we won a lot of series and our guys came to play, but that’s very, very tough to do.”
The pitching remained sharp, allowing three or fewer runs for the seventh straight game despite allowing 14 hits. In that stretch, Orioles pitchers have allowed just eight runs. After Gibson’s five innings, in which he scattered seven hits and struck out four, Baltimore-area native Bruce Zimmermann, who was recalled Saturday, pitched two scoreless for his second win of the season. Converted starter Jack Flaherty and August waiver claim Jacob Webb each allowed a run in the eighth and ninth, respectively, but also escaped jams.
Gibson ends his season with a 15-9 record across 33 starts and 192 innings with a 4.73 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. He was signed for $10 million this offseason to be an innings eater and veteran presence, .
The bats, which were shut out Friday and scored just two runs Thursday, broke out in the seventh when Ryan Mountcastle drove in the game’s first run with an RBI double and Heston Kjerstad followed with an infield single that scored Mountcastle from second. Jorge Mateo drove in the speedy Jordan Westburg on a groundout in the eighth, and Anthony Santander gave Webb insurance with a two-run single.
If the Orioles win Sunday, it will be club’s 102nd of the season. The last time they won 102 games was in 1979. Only two other teams in Orioles history have won more: 1969 (109 wins) and 1970 (108 wins).
“It’s rare,” said Gibson, an 11-year veteran. “I think the only other time I’ve won 100 is in Minnesota in ‘19, I think. It doesn’t happen that often — maybe two teams a year sometimes. I think it’s special for these young guys to experience it early on and know the work that goes into it and have some fun doing it.”
Around the horn
- In the eighth inning, Gunnar Henderson, who was announced as the earlier in the day, doubled for his 66th extra-base hit of the season, surpassing the rookie record Cal Ripken Jr. set in 1982.
- Before the game, the Orioles designated reliever Jorge López and recalled Zimmermann. Hyde said López, who the Orioles claimed off waivers in early September for a reunion after trading him away last summer, because they needed bullpen “depth” and the right-hander wasn’t eligible for Baltimore’s postseason roster. He wasn’t in the organization by Aug. 31, the cutoff for playoff eligibility.
- Hyde said ace Kyle Bradish is starting Sunday. Like Gibson, who threw just 80 pitches, Bradish likely won’t have a full start. He is expected to be the Orioles’ Game 1 starter in American League Division Series on Saturday.
- The Seattle Mariners were eliminated from playoff contention late Saturday night, winnowing the teams Baltimore could face in the ALDS. The top-seeded Orioles will play the winner of No. 4 Tampa Bay and the No. 5 seed, which will be determined between the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.
Regular-season finale
Red Sox at Orioles
Sunday, 3:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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