In the heart of Baltimore, a legendary figure from the 1970s strolled past the new face of a franchise, sparking a revival that has been decades in the making. The man who embodied the team’s spirit during its golden era gazed at the young hero who has catapulted himself into the upper echelon of the sport.
“He’s got a chance to be a good player,” the legend said, prompting a knowing grin from the 24-year-old sensation. As the torchbearer of the franchise, he has come to understand the significance of the legend’s role – not just as a Hall of Famer, but as a symbol of swagger and determination.
Over a six-year span, the team and its arch-rivals dominated the league, clashing four times in the championship series. Though the rivals won the first three, the team swept them in 1980. One of the most iconic moments in the legend’s career – a heated confrontation with an umpire over excessive pine tar – occurred against the rivals in 1983. In his postseason career against them, he batted.358 with six homers and only two strikeouts in 72 plate appearances.
“Hatred,” the legend said, reflecting on the intense rivalry. “You despise them, you abhor them.” Now, the young star is poised to take center stage in the renewed rivalry, driving in the winning run in the first game and plating the go-ahead run in his first two career playoff games – a feat last achieved by an inner-circle Hall of Famer nearly a century ago.
The 24-year-old’s objective attributes scream superstardom: a.332 average, back-to-back 30/30 seasons, and Gold Glove-caliber defense. His desire for more is evident in every meaningful game he plays, and these games hold substantial meaning – not only because they’re the team’s first postseason games since their championship win in 2015 but also because they mark one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history.
“Seeing what they’re doing across the street with the football team and their star quarterback, I’m just trying to do my part and bring back what the city needs and loves,” the young star said. “We want to create our own legacy.” The Venn diagram of the team’s legacy and his is a circle – he joined the organization as the No. 2 overall pick, blew away executives at the alternate site during the pandemic, won every Minor League Player of the Year award, and put himself in the best-player-in-baseball conversation.
In his first postseason opportunity, he shone. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the opponents tied the score, then loaded the bases. The team’s manager made a pitching change, and the infield gathered on the mound. The young star said, simply, “This is our game.” By the end of the mound visit, all of them were saying it. They believed. They escaped the half-inning without ceding another run, and in the next, the young star came to the plate with runners on the corners and two outs. He hit a 109 mph pea up the middle, only for the opponent’s second baseman to dive and snag it. The young star still beat the throw by more than a step for an infield single, scoring the winning run.
“The reason we won the game is the team played baseball the right way,” a veteran reliever said. “He booked it out the box, and his speed took over. He could easily have coasted. But he didn’t.”
The veteran reliever, a three-time World Series champion, is thrilled to bear witness to the young star’s rise. The young star can only dream of such a résumé, for now. He’s in his debut, still green, feeling privileged to face a team like the rivals in the postseason. He liked the spirit at the opponent’s stadium, has discovered a signature style for his postgame celebrations, and is ready to take the field behind a tremendous free agent signing in Game 1. The ace is lined up to pitch Game 2 as well as a potential Game 5.
For all of the pitching the team has between its starters and a bullpen that has become one of the hottest in baseball, it comes back to the young star. And now, he has taken them to the most storied stadium in baseball with a chance to become the latest team to come out of nowhere, introduce itself to the world, and do exactly what the legend seemed to do every time the rivals got together: fight.
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