Giroli: This is the “next chapter” for the Orioles, and it's scary how good they look

BALTIMORE – That phrase was everywhere. On signs on the benches, the Baltimore Orioles' scoreboard and all over the team's website: The Next Chapter.

For Baltimore, that's exactly what Thursday's Opening Day represents, as a new ownership group — led by Baltimore's David Rubinstein — was officially unveiled to the media, making for an always emotionally charged day that the city will probably never forget.

The American League East champions, with current manager Brandon Hyde and manager of the year Mike Elias, had new ace Corbin Burns on the mound, the type of front-line starter the Orioles have long craved. The days of the downtrodden franchise, which lost more than 100 games three times in four seasons from 2018-2021, seem like yesterday. The Angelos family officially said goodbye Wednesday to three decades of ownership, first through a unanimous vote by the other 29 MLB owners and, later, in a private and emotional changing of the guard.

This is the “next chapter” for the Orioles, and it's scary how good it looks.

There's the field team and its successes, which had a 100-win season for the first time since 1980. The Orioles are loaded with young talent, from reigning Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson to franchise cornerstone Adley Rutschman.

Baltimore has the best farm system in baseball and a one-two punch with Hyde and Elias that prompted Rubinstein to scoff The athlete Earlier this week, “What would I tell these people who don't already know?”

But what Rubinstein can do is invest in this team.

He could give Elias the resources to sign free agents, and lift the Orioles from the bottom of baseball's salary rankings to a more respectable middle ground.

He could find a solution to the decades-old MASN dispute and secure a ground lease to develop the area around Camden Yards into a year-round destination.

He can recreate the magic of being an Orioles fan, in a blue-collar town where the sounds of summer are the crackling of crabs and the sound of a ball hitting a glove.

Rubinstein knows this. He's from here, born and raised and a proud product of Baltimore's public schools. One of Rubinstein's first moves, adding franchise icon Cal Ripken Jr. as part of the new ownership group, is the kind of slam dunk the previous regime resisted.

“Baltimore is a unique city,” Rubinstein said. “I know the positives, I know the negatives, I know the challenges, I know the opportunities. And we now have a policy team in the city and state that I think can really help make this city live up to all of its potential. I hope the Orioles play a small role in that. I hope what they can What's going to happen is that the Orioles, by winning, by uniting the city, by restoring the kind of greatness they had in '66 or '70 or ('83), we can win a World Series again.

Rubinstein was formally introduced by Governor Wes Moore, and the pair have a clear connection built on a friendship that has lasted more than 20 years. They went to lunch on Saturday to discuss how to get the ground lease done quickly, and Rubinstein, who cracked jokes and kept calling others to share the stage, explained: He owns the Orioles, but they belong to the city.

“This is more than just a baseball team,” Moore said. “The Orioles are the soul of Baltimore. … This team reminds us of what we are made of.

Moore spoke in what was a tragic week for the city and the state of Maryland in the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. Both the Orioles' press conference and opening ceremonies featured a moment of silence for the victims and first responders. The bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a container ship lost power and collided with it, sending people and vehicles plunging into the frozen Patapsco River.

The Orioles, who played without fans in 2015 due to civil unrest after the death of Freddie Gray, have raised a city before. But this 2024 team, which has legitimate World Series aspirations, has a chance to leave an indelible mark on the city as the beginning of what many in baseball see as a brewing dynasty.

“I know the healing power of baseball,” said Michael Arugetti, co-founder and CEO of Ares Management, who is part of the ownership group and calls Rubenstein a special leader. Arugetti, whose parents were public school teachers, said the new ownership group has a “deep sense of civic responsibility to advance excellence, enhance the neighborhood,” but more than anything else, he and Rubinstein agree on one thing: winning.

“We are together in our unwavering hunger to bring the World Series back to Baltimore as soon as possible,” Arugetti said.

The Orioles began their “next chapter” with an 11-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, with Burns dealing and hitting the young studs and a home crowd constantly on its feet.

“This is our year!” shouted one fan, dressed head-to-toe in orange on the cold, windy afternoon, the picture of hope on opening day.

Perhaps this “next chapter” is more than just the excitement of a new season and a new page. Maybe this year, full of on-field expectation and astonishing optimism, belongs to Baltimore.

“I don’t want this to be a milestone,” Rubinstein said. “I want that high-water mark in the fall when we go to the World Series and show what we're about. A city rooting for a great team. A city represented by a great team. And we're unifying the city in a way that only the Orioles can do.”

(Photo by Corbin Burns: Greg Fiume/Getty Images)