What are they saying about the O's?

The national media expects improvement from the Orioles in 2010, like many O's fans.

As spring training is under way, a lot of national media figures are chiming in with their takes on teams across the MLB.

Normally, the national media is not a good place to get opinions of the Orioles, as most of them are obsessed with the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry and with the Orioles in the middle of a 12-year losing streak, there isn't a reason for any national writer to treat the Orioles as anything more than a pesky house fly.

But as the Orioles are getting younger and looking to improve on a 2009 that will hopefully be remembered as rock bottom, the national media is starting to take notice of the strides the Orioles have been making during the last few seasons and how it should impact the team's record in 2010.

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe recently wrote this article for Sports Illustrated. After waxing nostalgic of the Orioles glory days from 1966-1983, Shaughnessy summed up the Orioles 2010 season by saying:

No one thinks the Orioles have enough to contend this year, especially in the American League East. But maybe they can finish ahead of the Blue Jays. Maybe they can win 80 games.

Not really a firm stance on the Orioles, but saying the Orioles can get to 80 wins shows some acknowledgment that the Orioles have improved.

Tim Kurkjian of ESPN recently wrote in his article that:

The Orioles will not be approaching 98 wins this year, and they will not be going to the playoffs in the brutal American League East, but this could be the season when significant progress will be seen. They finished last season with four straight wins in October, and even though they have a crushing early schedule (first 16 days without an off day; 28 of first 35 games against teams with a winning record in '09), this might be the year they push .500.

Kurkjian is known for his fair coverage of the Orioles since he is a Maryland guy, and it shows.

And yesterday on the MLB Network, the 30 Clubs in 30 Days special covered the Orioles for an hour, where they frequently gushed over Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Matt Wieters, Brian Matusz and Chris Tillman. And even though analysts Dan Plesac and Kevin Hart they picked the Orioles to finish 4th and 5th, they agreed with Baseball Prospectus' prediction that the Orioles will win 79 games -- their best record since the losing streak began in 1998.

And so the writing is on the wall: the national media's expectations of the Orioles finally match that of most O's fans. No one expects a playoff run in 2010, but there should be marked improvement from last year, meaning that the Orioles actually play a competitive 162 games this year.

Anything less will be a disappointment.