A disappointing streak
Unless things change in the second half, it looks like the playoff-less string will continue.

It could be argued that the Delmarva Shorebirds got the short end of the schedule stick. In their first series, they were swept in three games down in Virginia against the Salem Red Sox, but that wasn’t really a shame because Baseball America this offseason ranked the Red Sox organization as the best in baseball, overturning a two-year run by the Orioles, which I will get to in a bit.
And after splitting a home series against the mediocre Fayetteville Woodpeckers - rebounding from the three opening losses in Salem to win the first three in their friendly confines, only to lose the last three - they ran into a buzzsaw known as the Carolina Mudcats, who only have the best record in the minor leagues, thanks in no small part to winning five of six over the Shorebirds.
I’m writing this on Wednesday night, moments after the Delmarva nine lost their sixth straight, this time to a relatively average Augusta Greenjackets squad who got themselves within a half-game of first in the tight Southern Division with the victory - meanwhile, Delmarva sits at the bottom once again at 4-13 and already nine and a half games back. For the second season in a row a dreadful start is doing us in.
Since the last time the Shorebirds won the South Atlantic League flag in 2000 - their second in four years - they have only made the playoffs three times (2002, 2005, and 2019). As a fan for now twenty seasons, I have witnessed a grand total of two playoff games. There’s something wrong with that picture because random chance would have dictated a playoff appearance every 3-4 years during that stretch. (In the pre-2019 Carolina League, it would have been almost every other season as 4 of 8 - later 10 - teams made the playoffs. Now it’s 4 of 12, which are still good odds.)
While the philosophy of the Orioles has been successful of late in developing good players given the emergence of a pretty much homegrown lineup for the Orioles on any given night, the fact that they are struggling this year - well, yes, it can be laid at the feet of a management that couldn’t sign a frontline pitcher, but I wonder if it’s also a culture that doesn’t stress winning at the minor league level as much as developing players.
At the lowest levels of the Orioles’ system, both Delmarva and the Aberdeen Ironbirds have fans who have endured a lot of losing, with Delmarva owning both championships between the two in over fifty seasons of play. And this has been true whether the Orioles had a top ten farm system or a bottom-feeder. I can’t say for sure, but perhaps this long losing string is the reason both teams’ attendance has been on a recent downward trend, particularly in Aberdeen. The Baltimore organization had a break when Frederick would make the playoffs regularly, but Bowie Chesapeake has been the successful team of late.
I’m holding out hope that the Shorebirds’ luck will change in the second half - after all, I remember a year when Lakewood started their season 0-9 and ended up league champions - but I can’t get too excited with a philosophy like the Orioles seem to have, where the best players only get here in August when it’s too late.
Yet I’m still there tonight, if only because I love baseball. I like winning, too, but it seems I can’t have one with the other these days.
This week’s picture came from a 6-5 loss to Lakewood back on May 20, 2015 and featured onetime Shorebird Donnie Hart. Hart, who came to us in the 2014 campaign, would pitch for us for the front half of 2015 before heading up to Frederick and wrapping up the season with a couple appearances in Bowie. By the end of 2016 he was an Oriole, spending parts of three seasons there (2016-18) before splitting his last season in 2019 between the Brewers and Mets, the team with which he made his final appearance. (He was literally one and done with them.) After that, Hart spent time in the independent and Mexican leagues before (it appears) hanging it up in 2024. But don’t be shocked if the LOOGY finds a new team to call home this year.
In the meantime, though, you can Buy Me a Coffee, since I have a page there now. You can also like and restack this piece so others can enjoy it.