Late Night Orioles Magic

I have a confession to make: I love late night Orioles games. Not west coast games – you know they’re going to end late. I mean the ones that are absurdly late for some reason or another. Rain affects the schedule, the game goes into extras… something unexpected.

During that crazy 18-inning game in Seattle in 2012, Buck Showalter encouraged his players, saying that there were people back in Baltimore living and dying with what was going on in the game. Count me among those idiots. Long after the casual fans have gone to bed, and after the kids have run out of steam, the few remain. When you invest in one of these absurdly late Orioles games, you put yourself in a pretty good position to see, not just Orioles Magic, but some Late Night Magic.

The beauty of Late Night Magic is that you can tell in an instant who else was up absurdly late living and dying by the Orioles. Through bloodshot eyes you exchange that look that says so much.

Yeah, I know it’s ridiculous I did that. YES, IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME.

Yesterday was a great one. There was baseball from 4:05pm until nearly 1:00am this morning. But with all the great moments that day provided, nothing can compare with the elation brought on by Matt Wieters taking a terrible pitch and putting it on the concourse in front of Section 3 to secure a double header sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Buck and the players may have been required to sleep fast. But those that stayed up for the conclusion of last night’s game could sleep happy. They were treated to a little Late Night Magic.

Photo Credit: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images