12/13/2023 0 Comments Monopoly credit card version![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It was easy to look around that room in spring training and understand that this team’s gonna catch fire.” I think in three to four years, maybe even sooner, you’re gonna have just as many bonafide studs and superstars as that (Phillies) team already has established. “So whereas we had a lot of veterans last year, we have a lot of young guys (in Baltimore). “You have a really similar makeup (to the reigning National League champion Phillies) except just flip the ages of players,” Gibson said. Over the weekend, a few players realized Cowser - promoted on July 5 - had yet to witness a big-league loss. They haven’t been swept in a three-game series since Rutschman debuted last May, going 124-91 since the young catcher’s arrival. The Orioles have an average 40-man roster age of 28, but an enviable core under that number in catcher Adley Rutschman (25), infielders Gunnar Henderson (22) and Jordan Westburg (24), outfielder Colton Cowser (23), and pitchers Kyle Bradish (26) and Grayson Rodriguez (23), who returned from Triple-A Norfolk to start Monday’s game. This 2023 group, though, is just beginning. The window was shut, as the O’s haven’t won a playoff game since. That winter, they let Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz walk and failed to make any major acquisitions. In ‘14, they ran away with the AL East title and advanced to the AL Championship Series before getting swept by the Royals. 500 for the first time since the end of the 2014 season and for the first time before August since 1997. On Friday, in the first game of a series against the Marlins they’d go on to sweep, the O’s moved to 20 games over. “For going through a few tough years to start their career here and from May on last year to watch them have the success that they’ve had, to feel winning and learning how to win, understanding what winning takes. “The guys that have been here for a while, (I’m) so happy for them honestly,” manager Brandon Hyde said of guys like Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Ryan Mountcastle who have been through the team’s rebuild. They’re making people around baseball realize, even as the Tampa Bay Rays jumped out to a historic start: The American League East race is far from over. They’re rejuvenating a fan base that has pretty consistently packed Camden Yards in support of the Homer Hose and Sprinkler celebration for extra-base hits. They’re revising the expectations of those outside their clubhouse who didn’t believe they would be competitive. The second-place Orioles (57-36), who had their eight-game winning streak snapped with a loss to the Dodgers on Monday, are not just rewriting card game rules. “We probably should get in touch with Monopoly, really.” “We have a lot of things that we’ve created that are a lot of fun,” said Irvin, who is in his fifth big-league season and first with Baltimore. Irvin, Gibson and relievers Danny Coulombe and Mike Baumann have been the main arbiters of the new rules, coming up with ways to change what the “Pass Go” card means or how to add more strategic elements. If you got a jail card your partner can pay your bail, so you don’t skip a turn. How could they make Monopoly Deal more of a team game? They raised the stakes: Teams had to collect eight sets of property and not three. In the three-and-a-half months since the Orioles scored their Monopoly Deal set, as they’ve established themselves as one of the best teams in baseball on the field, they’ve kept tinkering with the rules off of it. On free nights on the road, they’ll pack into a hotel room. Now, Gibson and Irvin estimate the guys who’ve played are in the double digits. ![]() On the team plane home the next night, two other players joined Gibson and Irvin in a game of Monopoly Deal. He’d never seen anyone but the clubbies play the card version of the classic board game, but Irvin was excited enough that the Rangers clubbies gifted them their Monopoly Deal set. “Were you playing Monopoly Deal?” pitcher Cole Irvin asked him later that morning. The 35-year-old starter was playing the card game when a bunch of his Baltimore teammates walked by. ![]()
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