The ball hits the bat with a resounding crack, and the crowd goes wild. My dreams transpire much in the same way as I relive my memories. I spent all of my time last fall holding my breath and watching the T.V. to see if my beloved Baltimore Orioles would reach the playoffs. Over the past fifteen years, the Orioles never managed to reach the playoffs. This could end fifteen years of seeing the Orioles come in at last place in the MLB season after long season. Keeping this in mind, my excitement shot through the roof when the Orioles clinched that elusive playoff spot. ‘This is great,’ I thought to myself. ‘Finally, we are in the playoffs!’ The experience of the playoffs produced many more memories than just watching the games on the couch would have created.

John, who is my oldest brother, purchased tickets to go see the first two divisional playoff games. Both games took place in Baltimore. Understandably, I felt the most excited I have been in my entire life. Besides missing two days of school, I had the opportunity to spend three days in my favorite city in the world. Waiting anxiously for the day we departed, my mind could not focus on anything else.

Finally! The day arrived! My dad, brother, sister-in-law, and I all climbed into the car to start the ten-hour journey ahead of us. ‘Is that a long time? Maybe. But I don’t mind.’ Through each state we passed on the way to Baltimore, my excitement crept higher and higher. The signs for Pennsylvania and West Virginia passed in a blur, but finally I saw the Maryland sign. I knew we would arrive soon.

When we finally arrived in Baltimore, we headed for our hotel in the inner harbor of Baltimore. After I stepped out of the van, I felt a special excitement when I saw all of the hotel staff wearing orange and black Oriole baseball caps. While we walked into the hotel, everyone we saw wore some type of Orioles’ gear. What a great sight it was! After we ate at a restaurant, we settled down for the night, anticipating the big game the following night.

The day of the first game went by quickly. We walked around Baltimore near our hotel, and we shopped and ate. When we started our walk from our hotel to the stadium at night, fans filled the sidewalks traveling to the game. It was a sight to see. I have never witnessed that number of people traveling to the same place at the same time all at once.

Once we arrived at the stadium, the ticket-checkers handed us rally towels, which have a logo of the team and some advertising, and they immediately became a prized possession of mine. I did not let go of the soft towel for the rest of the night. We arrived quite a while before the game, so we decided to go to our seats. I seem to have this jinx that causes it to rain and force a delay before every Baltimore game I go to, and did it rain. Instead of sitting and getting soaked with the cold, wet rain, my dad and I decided to walk around together around the concourse of the stadium. People packed the concourse, and chants broke out left and right. “Let’s go O’s” and “Yankees suck” rolled through the halls of the concourse. The stadium vibrated with the noise. Among the huge crowd of people, I felt as if all of Baltimore came to the game to support the team that finally crawled out of the struggles of the past.

After a long two and a half hour rain delay, the first pitch was finally thrown. Waiting for a moment to cheer, I sat on the edge of my seat the whole night. Out of everything in the world, the only event that I wanted to see that night was the Oriole players celebrating on the field after their victory. As the night went on, some bits of the game prompted excitement, but it went into the ninth and final inning tied. Through the whole night, hope filled the fans, but the nervousness of the fans in attendance could almost be felt in the air. The whole stadium held its breath as the first batter came to the plate in the ninth inning. Unfortunately, the first batter up for the hated Yankees hit a homerun, and the Yankees did not look back. Scoring five runs in the ninth inning, the Yankees handed the Orioles a loss.

After the loss of the first game, I felt dejected. In conjunction with the jinx of rain delays, I also felt like I had a jinx that the Orioles can’t win when I attend game. I thought I could be blamed for them losing, and I know that sounds irrational. I reasoned with myself, ‘I will just stay at the hotel tomorrow. I would rather see the Orioles win on the T.V. than see them lose in person.’ I needed to keep hope, but I felt skeptical.

Game time rolled around for game two of the series, and, what do you know, rain caused another delay. Thankfully, my family and I had seats under the second deck for this game, so we did not get wet. Through that rain delay, I could only focus on envisioning the team celebrate after the game. If the Orioles did not win this game, they had virtually no chance to win the series. I knew the team and fans would find some way to hand the city of Baltimore a win. After the delay in the first game, this one flew by in a breeze. This delay only lasted forty minutes past the scheduled start time. The second game transpired much the same as the first, low-scoring, but the Orioles held the lead for much of the game. The excitement built with every inning that passed. Every out was one out closer to grabbing the win and evening the series. It came down to the ninth inning where Camden Yards, which is the home field of the Orioles, rocked with noise. An uneasy dread filled because this situation felt similar to the game the night before, and the ending of last game left much to be desired. ‘This is it,’ I thought to myself. ‘Every second I spent with the Orioles this year comes down to these three outs.’ The Orioles held a lead going into the ninth inning, and all they had to do was keep the Yankees from scoring.

A wave of white swept across the crowd as rally towels waved in the air. The fans did as much as possible to will the Orioles to victory. The stadium’s noise level rose to one hundred and eight decibels, which sounds about the same as a crack of thunder, and it seemed to work. The Orioles ended up winning the game, and it was their first playoff win since 1997. My jinx was broken, and everyone traveled home happily that night.

As the series headed to New York, my family and I headed home. I will never forget my experience at Baltimore. I will never be able to capture that exact feeling again. Baltimore was buzzing the whole time I stayed there. I was buzzing the whole time I stayed there. The people my family and I passed wore smiles on their faces and an Orioles caps on their heads. The highs and the lows will be with me forever. I only hope it won’t be another fifteen years before I get to do it again.