BALTIMORE — The Orioles had a rough end to a roller coaster of a season.
It was far from the year fans, players and management hoped for.
For the second year in a row, the O's made the playoffs, but also ended their year without winning a playoff game.
They had back to back playoff seasons for the first time since the 96-97 seasons.
But for the second year in a row, they exit the postseason without winning a game.
After Wednesday's loss, the team is ready to regroup this off-season with a roster that can challenge for the world series.
"It's time to get over a new hump. For this to be the style of press conference I'm having two years in a row, this has not gone to plan this year," said O's General Manager Mike Elias.
In the first half of the year, the O's played well, picking up were left off last year. But the second half, they dealt with injuries and offensive woes.
"I'm going to be laser focused over the next few weeks in preparing for the off-season and throughout the off-season," said Elias.
"We just didn't get the big hit. We scored one run in two games. It's kind of tough to win," said Manager Brandon Hyde.
The pitching was exceptional but offense continued to be an issue well before the playoffs started, losing much of their momentum from the first half of the season.
"First half we were top of the league in most offensive categories and runs scored and ops, generating runs. In the second half,I think injuries, coupled with some guys have disappointing second halves, going through some struggles, it was a lot more of a challenge to score runs and we relied on the homer. When you're facing good pitching, that's really tough to do."
One major question heading into the off-season surrounds former Cy Young winner Corbin Burns and his free agency.
"To make every start like clockwork, to throw 194 innings, to spin a gem in a wild card, I felt that that was a necessary move and we did push chips in to the season with that trade. It's it is a shame that we weren't able to be able to carry his impact further into the playoffs," said Hyde.
Whether it's bringing him back or looking at other big name free agents,Elias feels supported under new ownership group lead by David Rubenstein to make this team a World Series contender.
"They're smart, they're business savvy, they're well equipped for this. They're gonna be all in to win. This is major league baseball," said Elias.
