As bad as the Orioles are, it’s still worth going to Camden Yards

It hasn’t been pretty and I won’t sugarcoat it; we all know how the Orioles’ season has gone so far. I’ve watched this team more nights than I’d care to admit, and it has been dreadful to say the least. But as much as the now 43-107 Orioles suck the soul out of every fan watching at home on a nightly basis, there is one thing the team cannot take away, and that’s the greatest ballpark in baseball.

Now I can’t tell you what to do with your money, and in all honesty I’m pretty sure the product on the field suggests the Orioles should instead be the ones paying the fans to attend games, but this is still your last chance to enjoy a September night in Baltimore before the season ends. And if Camden Yards by itself isn’t enough to get you, and perhaps your family, down to Camden Yards before the season winds down, there are some incentives to sweeten the deal. In fact, with how low ticket prices wind up going on StubHub these days, it kind of is like the team is paying you to attend.

It’s not a giveaway, but tonight you can see the Orioles become the first team in MLB history to properly honor professional umpires as they debut their jerseys with braille lettering.

Jokes aside, I’m going to quickly use this event to help plug the gofundme for Orioles fan Mo Gaba. You might know Mo from his enthusiastic calls and infectious laugh on 105.7 The Fan or his appearances at FanFest, or you may not know him at all, but despite being blind since the age of one, he’s one of the Orioles’ biggest fans and going through something that no one deserves as he’s fighting cancer for the third time.

Now back to the promotions.

For all you Terps fans out there, the Orioles are hosting a University Night this Wednesday featuring a hat giveaway in Maryland colors with a Terps logo on the side. It’s also the WWE Birdlandmania event with a special ticket to pick up this incredible bobblehead. If you go ahead and buy both ticket packages, you can lock up both giveaways and help the Orioles skew their attendance numbers.

For the final weekend series of the year against the Houston Astros, you can pick up Orioles coasters on Friday, Orioles puffy vests on Saturday, and finally Orioles duffel bags on Sunday. That’s three solid giveaways, all without tacky sponsors plastered across the sides.

If you still need a little bit of a boost heading into Baltimore to support a team that probably won’t reach the 50-win mark, here is your friendly reminder that two children can still enter free with a paying adult in the upper reserves, and any ticket you may have from a postponed game earlier this season can be redeemed on a dollar per dollar basis at the ticket office.

Don’t think of the stadium as empty, think of it as a great opportunity to sit anywhere you want. Try not to think of these as wasted games at the end of a lost season, but rather your last chance to see the 2018 Orioles, even if you’d rather not remember them. But most importantly, do it for Adam Jones. If this is truly his last season in Baltimore, he deserves to go out in front of some fans.

I’ve always referred to the Orioles game on September 6, 2012 as the return of Camden Yards. It was Cal Ripken statue night against the Yankees and for the first time in a long time, meaningful baseball was back in Baltimore on a September night. The Orioles got out to a 6-1 lead before a bullpen implosion caused the Yankees to tie it back up. That’s when Adam Jones stepped to the plate to erupt a crowd in an emotional outburst I’d place up there with the Delmon Young double.

Jones once asked long-time Orioles’ trainer Richie Bancells, “How loud can this place get?” After that home run, Bancells simply told Adam, “That’s how loud.” Forget the 30-some wins above replacement that Jones has tallied in an Orioles uniform dating back to 2008. He deserves to go out in front of some fans for that single moment on a hot September night back in 2012.

Plus, there’s free O’s gear.