No MLB division collected as many wins as the 420 accumulated by the five teams in the American League East last season, and the division only seems to have gotten stronger this winter.

The Blue Jays added Anthony Santander and Max Scherzer. The Rays retooled behind a strong pitching staff. The Red Sox bolstered their lineup and their rotation with infielder Alex Bregman and starting pitchers Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler.

The Yankees lost Juan Soto and are dealing with long-term injuries to pitchers Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, but they’ve fortified, too, by adding Cody Bellinger, Max Fried, Devin Williams and Paul Goldschmidt.

And there the Orioles sit with expectations as high or higher than all of them.

“It’s just the nature of the beast,” Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson told MLB Network Radio on Thursday. “Best division in baseball, and every year it’s going to be something different. Really fun going into each year because you know it’s probably going to be a new team that you’re facing, new arms. It’s definitely a challenge each and every year, but that’s the fun part of it.”

The Orioles spent 60 days in first place last season and led the AL East as late as Sept. 6. A 9-11 finish by Baltimore enabled the Yankees to seize the division, the first-round playoff bye and ultimately the AL pennant while the Orioles lost in the Wild Card Series to Kansas City.

Baltimore didn’t do as much offseason retooling as their divisional counterparts, and they’ll once again rely upon younger players such as Henderson, catcher Adley Rutschman, second baseman Jackson Holliday, third baseman Jordan Westburg and outfielder Colton Cowser. Reinforcements could come later in the summer.

Last season taught the Orioles that high expectations, both external and internal, can take their toll. And they enter this season embracing their identity and remembering how far their talent can take them.

“I feel like the biggest thing is we put a lot of pressure on ourselves (where) every time we had an opportunity to do something, it had to be done right then and there,” Henderson said. “Just giving ourselves honestly the freedom to fail but also just go out there with the right mindset of being loose, going out there and just playing like we normally do, and that’s playing fast and playing really hard.

“Then run into a homer and you look up at the scoreboard and we’re up by four runs, five runs."