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Guthrie—who pitched for the Orioles for five seasons and established himself as a fan-favorite on and off the field—wore a shirt that said “These O’s Ain’t Royal,” which is a pun on singer Chris Brown’s song “Loyal.” 

The wardrobe choice, which was not just worn in the clubhouse amongst players but on a national post-game broadcast, upset many already downtrodden Orioles fans:

Congrats
@TheRealJGuts for showing a true lack of class wearing that shirt post game.You’re like the Ron Burgundy of pitchers but not funny.

— Josh Charles (@MrJoshCharles)
October 15, 2014

Worst part of
@TheRealJGuts‘s shirt was that it was from a Chris Brown song. Disgusting. Thanks for the apology, though.

— Camden Chat (@CamdenChat)
October 15, 2014

But
@TheRealJGuts remember these fans here suffered a long time too. We’re still the same fans who gave you standing O’s

— Adam Bednar (@Bmorejourno)
October 15, 2014

@TheRealJGuts Had crappy stuff, help from ump and amazing D. Then comes out wearing that? C’mon man. Don’t lie.

— Chris Vinson (@chrisvinson77)
October 15, 2014

Of course, this is coming after pinch runner Jarrod Dyson’s comments that the Orioles would not return back to Baltimore during the ALCS (admittedly a likely scenario at this point). While showy comments, wardrobe choices, and 
signature dance moves may be the Royals’ style, it’s certainly not ours. Buck Showalter just wouldn’t allow it in his clubhouse.

Guthrie did end up apologizing to Orioles fans, tweeting and then deleting this: “My positive feelings for the Charm City, O’s organization, my former teammates and O’s fans is well documented. Nothing I wore [tonight] changes that.” The tweet he did end up posting said this:

My intention was not to anger O’s fans or friends w/my shirt 2night.I apologize to those offended.Did not consider this reaction.Go Royals.

— Jeremy Guthrie (@TheRealJGuts)
October 15, 2014

So what do you guys think: Was the shirt an offensive move by a former teammate or are O’s fans overreacting after some tough losses?

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And, not surprisingly, ticket prices for the ALCS are even higher on the secondary market, with the average asking price around $468 for games one and two, $511 for game six, and $624 for game seven. 

However, there are still a few options left for fans to buy tickets off the Orioles website. Until 5 p.m. tonight, fans can put down a deposit for a 20-game 2015 season plan and be guaranteed a purchase opportunity for games one or two tomorrow at 10 a.m. (Officials may extend the deadline as well).

If buying a season plan isn’t your thing, you can also try your luck tomorrow, as the Orioles will host a public sale on its website at noon (most expensive ticket for the ALCS on their site is $225; most expensive for World Series is $350). 

“We probably could have liquidated all of our inventory, but we thought it was important to have some tickets for the public,” says Greg Bader, Orioles vice president of communications. “Availability will be extremely limited, and tickets—which will be primarily scattered single seats, limited view seating, and standing-room only—will sell out in 10 or 15 minutes.” The maximum number of tickets one person can buy is four, and Bader advises that fans chances for games 6 and 7 are the most promising.

Bader, who has been with the Orioles organization for 21 years, says that this has been the most high-demand period for tickets he’s ever seen. “2012 was fantastic in terms of great demand,” he says. “But our season-ticket holder base was a lot smaller then. Now there are so many more plan-holders, fans are going to feel like tickets are even more scarce.”

So, good luck to everyone getting Orioles tickets through the website, on the secondary market, or are lucky enough to happen upon them. Though it’s quite the price tag, there should be plenty of priceless moments ahead.

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That was the era of starting pitchers Scott Erickson and Mike Mussina, and 100 MPH fastballs from Armando Benitez. Cal’s streak was still alive. Harold Baines, Brady Anderson, and B.J. Surhoff were in the outfield. 

That was a time when cell phones looked like this and you only owned one if you had a really nice car or worked on Wall Street. The most popular songs were “Candle in the Wind” and “Barbie Girl.” That was the year of Dolly the cloned sheep. Television duos included Lois and Clark and Beavis and Butthead. We surfed the web with dial-up, Netscape Navigator, and CompuServe.

Suffice it to say, 1997 was a long time ago.

We didn’t know it then, but that was the start of 14 bleak seasons of Baltimore baseball. We would go through eight different managers in that span of time. We would painfully lose 1,276 games (that’s an average of 91 a season) and Camden Yards’ average attendance dwindled from 45,816 to 21,395. The stadium maddeningly filled up with Red Sox and Yankees fans. Saying you were an Orioles fan became synonymous with masochism and, more often than not, would garner sympathetic head tilts and condescending apologies. 

But true Orioles fans never gave up on the team—retaining season-ticket plans like my dad has done, having faith in players like Miguel Tejada and Sammy Sosa, and certainly never moving over to the Washington Nationals bandwagon. We held out hope as we watched other beleaguered teams, like the Boston Red Sox, go all the way. I remember a particularly desperate time when I named my goldfish in college “Javy” just to try to keep the Orioles Magic alive (we went 71-91 that year).

But then, slowly but surely, some things started going our way. I’d point to to  the 2008 Bedard-Jones trade as one of the first glimmers of hope. And then there was the late 2010 hiring of Buck Showalter, who looked and acted awfully familiar, to really catalyze a new era in Baltimore. Though we faltered in 2011, we still managed to keep the Red Sox out of the playoffs, bringing excitement back to a Yard that had felt dormant for years.

And of course, you know the rest. Two playoff runs in two years, leading the majors in home runs, and battling back from injuries to secure our trip to the ALCS. I have had the privilege of seeing some exciting games in Camden Yards over the years (namely Cal’s 2131 game and our playoff win over the Yankees in 2012), but nothing compared to the electricity and roar when Delmon Young cleared the bases on Friday afternoon. It was a moment I had been waiting for my entire life.

The Orioles are back, they are talented, and they are ready to take the baseball world by storm.

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