Baltimore Orioles Skipper Compares Team's Young Core To Iconic World Series Champion

The Baltimore Orioles manager has compared his current team to another he won a World Series ring with.

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The Baltimore Orioles are a team on the rise after winning 192 games over the past two seasons.

Back-to-back playoff appearances have been a breath of fresh air for the franchise, but that's just the beginning for the Orioles.

Baltimore's lineup is loaded with young difference makers whose best days are still ahead of them.

Shortstop Gunnar Henderson is a 23-year-old star who's already a legitimate MVP contender. Henderson won the AL Rookie of the Year in 2023 behind 28 homers and a 6.2 bWAR season. Then last year, he hit 37 dingers with an MVP-worthy 9.1 bWAR.

The Orioles' rise correlates directly to Henderson's full-time arrival with the team.

He is already one of the game's best players, and he's the long-term centerpiece in Baltimore.

Adley Rutschman is 27 years old and arguably the best catcher in baseball.

He's a rock-solid middle-of-the-order hitter at a position that rarely provides the offensive upside that he possesses.

Rutschman is joined in the heart of the order by right fielder Colton Cowser, who is projected to hit cleanup for the Orioles. Cowser was the runner-up in last year's extremely close AL Rookie of the Year race.

Through Baltimore's first four spots in their lineup, they have two premium players in Henderson and Rutschman, with an All-Star-caliber cleanup hitter in Cowser.

That's a great core for a young, ascending team like the Orioles.

During an interview with MLB Network, Baltimore's manager, Brandon Hyde, compared his current team to the 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs.

Hyde was the Cubs' first base coach during their iconic, curse-breaking 2016 campaign.

He said directly of his experiences with the two teams, "The talent and how young our guys are, it's very similar."

The Orioles' premium talent doesn't stop with Henderson, Rutschman and Cowser.

Second baseman Jackson Holliday was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft. He has a Major League bloodline as the son of former seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday. He is also just 21 years old with only 190 big league at-bats under his belt.

Then there is the team's top prospect, Samuel Basallo, the headliner of the organization's Spring Breakout roster.

For those unaware of Basallo, look no further than his recent spring training bomb.

The team's second-ranked prospect, corner infielder Cody Mayo, is having a brutal spring, but he's another young power hitter who could contribute at the Major League level soon.

Baltimore is a factor in the American League right now built on the strength of a young lineup that isn't close to reaching their ceiling.

The Orioles are positioned to be one of the AL's best teams for a long time.

Hyde sees this group as being capable of reaching the championship heights of that unforgettable 2016 Chicago team. Baltimore still might be a pitcher or two away from that outcome, but they have the core to make history themselves.