Asher Blakeley

In Orioles fan and 12th grade dean Josh Carlin’s office, Friends memorabilia and a recent Baltimore Sun front page celebrating the team’s winning season have pride of place.

The Baltimore Orioles have been a historically bad team since their last playoff appearance in 2016. They regularly lost 100 games in a season. All across Baltimore, fans dwindled as it became harder to support their home team.

The same was true at Friends.

But the tides are turning. An orange wave is on the horizon.

In 2023, the Orioles have been a different team. Led by an exciting core of young, up-and-coming stars, they captured the hearts of fans around Friends School and Baltimore. They won the American League East for the first time in nine years and secured the best overall record in the American League, sending them to the American League Divisional Series, the second round of the Major League Baseball playoffs.

As fans in the Friends Upper School prepared for the start of the series, senate co-president Harrison Fribush announced that Thursday, October 5th would be “Orange Thursday”: a time for students to show their pride, passion, and excitement for the coming series by coming to school dressed in Orioles gear. 

On the morning of the 5th, there were students in all four grade halls wearing orange and black.

Playoff baseball has returned to Baltimore – and so has the fanaticism that the Orioles have been missing since 2016.