7 October 2023
With the Orioles’ return to the postseason Saturday, superstitious Orioles fans may be finding their lucky playoff shirt doesn’t fit the way it used to. Of course, with all that’s changed around the sport and the ballpark since the Orioles’ previous postseason appearance seven years ago, just being a fan has a different feel.
While the intervening years weren’t even half as long as the playoff drought the Orioles ended in 2012, with a pandemic and three 100-loss seasons folded in this time, it’s easy to forget the way things were. Here are seven things that have changed since the Orioles last played a playoff game in 2016.
Sports betting
That pinstriped-clad fellow cheering loudly for an Adley Rutschman walk may not be driven purely by AL East pride. This will be the first postseason involving the Orioles on which fans can legally place wagers in Maryland. Legalized in 2020, in-person sports betting launched December 2021 and mobile sports betting started in November 2022.
A reminder of that is emblazoned on a three-story-tall sign attached to Camden Yards’ B&O Warehouse. This season was the first that the Orioles’ ballpark had a sports betting-themed restaurant. SuperBook Bar & Restaurant is not a traditional sportsbook, but a lounge where fans can make wagers on phones. While the state has 12 retail and 12 mobile sportsbooks, most wagers (95% of the handle from July 1 to Aug. 31) are made on mobile devices, according to data from Maryland Lottery and Gaming. In August alone, pro baseball had over $74.3 million in wagers, making up around 28% of the month’s handle.
Bag restrictions
To take in the atmosphere of the playoffs and beat (some of) the crowds, it pays to arrive early. And staying late may require a few more layers than it did in July — especially in the Splash Zone. All that might mean packing a bag, which ballpark rules limit to less than half the maximum size allowed in 2016.
Backpack-sized bags have been prohibited since 2021 unless their contents are medically necessary, such as medicine or diapers. Otherwise, fans are limited to one clear bag no larger than 12-by-6-by-12 inches, one 1-gallon plastic freezer bag, or one fanny pack or clutch purse no larger than 5-by-7 inches.
Suspended in 2021, the Orioles’ bring-your-own-food policy was brought back in 2022 with new guidelines, including limiting food and nonalcoholic drinks to be in a single clear, sealable plastic gallon bag. Beverages are limited to 20 ounces, and frozen water bottles are not allowed.
Electric scooters
In 2023 it’s hard to walk near the ballpark and not encounter at least one rentable electric scooter. But the dockless vehicles hadn’t arrived in Baltimore yet when the Orioles last made a postseason appearance. Bird scooters arrived in 2018, but, despite their fitting name for Baltimore sports fans, flew out of town this year after losing a permit bid to LINK and S.
LINK scooters cost $1 to unlock and $0.40 per minute to ride, while Spin scooters are $1.50 to start and $0.66 per minute, according to each corresponding app.
TikTok
For Orioles fans, even the wryest TikTok video probably wouldn’t have made the team’s walk-off loss in 2016′s win-or-go-home wild-card game any easier to take, but after a tense game punctuated by a full beer can being thrown at an Orioles outfielder, it would have been entertaining to see what the platform’s clever creators came up with. The video-sharing app that now boasts 150 million U.S. users didn’t exist seven years ago.
This time around fans can prep for the playoffs on the Orioles’ official account with a variety of videos from game replays to players answering the most recent burning TikTok question: How often do you think about the Roman Empire?
Hot dogs
Hot dogs and baseball go together like Baltimore heat and humidity. But how much money will you have to separate with to have one from the ballpark? While this season the Orioles have offered a discounted price of $4.10 (a promotional nod to the local area code) for hot dogs and other staples at select concession spots, the price was $1.50 — $1.87 adjusted for inflation — in 2016, according to Statista. If you want to opt for a jumbo dog, be prepared to pay $8.25.
Going cashless
The outfield grass is as green as ever, but a greenback can no longer buy you a snack or a souvenir. Camden Yards became cashless in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The ballpark introduced two “reverse” ATMs the same year, where fans could input cash and receive cards to purchase items. A reverse ATM still exists to purchase food and merchandise on the lower-level concourse next to the first aid by Gate D, according to the MLB website.
Another alternative method is O’s Pay. O’s Pay was tested in 2022 and launched in 2023 as a convenience to fans, Orioles public relations director Jackie Harig said in an email. Birdland members also can apply their membership discount using O’s Pay.
LED lights and other ‘Go Green’ efforts
Ask any player. Even after a 162-game regular season, in the playoffs, somehow you get more energy. The LED bulbs lighting the action, however, use substantially less than the fluorescent ones of seven years ago — 54% less, to be exact, according to Major League Baseball’s website.
Other Orioles Go Green Initiatives since the 2016 season include electric charging stations the Maryland Stadium Authority and Electric Vehicle Institute installed around the Camden Yards complex, including eight level 2 and one level 3.
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