The Orioles, even after losing four straight, are still sitting pretty in the postseason race. How have their competitors fared?
All is not well in Birdland. The Orioles have lost four games in a row for the first time this year. They haven’t gotten a quality start from a pitcher in more than a week. Their offense has gotten completely silent for the last three games. For some O’s fans, who still haven’t quite gotten used to the idea that their team is a perennial contender now, they must try to silence the panicky part of their brains that insist an inevitable freefall is just around the corner.
Relax. Breathe. This team is extremely talented and still is in prime position to return to the playoffs for the second straight year. Things are going to be fine…probably.
Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on how the Orioles’ competitors in the AL postseason race are faring. Who’s making a push? Who’s falling out of it?
When the Orioles charged into Yankee Stadium and blew the doors off the place with a resounding series win, including a 17-5 shellacking in the finale, I figured it’d be just a matter of days before the O’s claimed first place for themselves. Instead, they’ve gone the wrong direction, losing four games in a row to slip two full games behind New York.
Still, the Yankees look as vulnerable as they have all season. They’ve lost three consecutive series and four of their last five, and Giancarlo Stanton, their third-best hitter, has made his annual trip to the IL with a left hamstring strain. On the other hand, the Yankees’ next three series come against teams that are currently under .500, so they’ve got an opportunity to right the ship. It would behoove the Orioles to do the same to keep pace.
While this is still basically a two-team race, we regrettably can’t completely close the door yet on the Red Sox, who suddenly are one of the hottest teams in the majors, winning 10 of their last 12 games. A team that was hovering around .500 all season is now clicking on all cylinders and moving up in the playoff picture. Ugh. Go away, Red Sox.
In my last update two weeks ago, I all but wrote a eulogy for the Astros, who were seven games under .500 and trailing six other teams for the last wild card spot. Yeah, as it turns out, reports of their demise were greatly exaggerated. They’ve won five games in a row to creep close to .500, and they certainly looked like the powerhouse club of the past decade in sweeping the Orioles over the weekend.
Since I can no longer dance on the Astros’ grave, I’ll instead do so for the woeful Blue Jays, whose 2024 season is swiftly turning into a disaster. They’ve lost seven straight games, including blowing a four-run lead in the eighth to the Red Sox last night, to drop to a season-worst eight under .500. Their WAR leader, Daulton Varsho, is sidelined with back tightness. And in a coup de grace of embarrassment, they called up their #2 prospect, Orelvis Martinez, to make his major league debut…and he immediately received an 80-game suspension from MLB for the use of a banned supplement. I feel kind of bad for Martinez. I feel not the least bit bad for the Blue Jays.
Speaking of collapsing teams who will receive no sympathy from me, the Royals, once the Cinderella story of baseball, have come crashing back to earth after losing 11 of their last 15 games. (I may have mixed some metaphors in that sentence.) They were 3.5 games ahead for the second wild card just two weeks ago and now they’ve fallen out of a playoff spot entirely. The Royals’ offense has gone particularly quiet, as they’ve averaged less than three runs per game during that stretch and have been shut out three times.
AL postseason matchups if the season ended today
#1 Guardians (AL Central winner) — first round bye
#2 Yankees (AL East winner) — first round bye
#3 Mariners (AL West winner) host #6 Red Sox (third wild card) in WC Series
#4 ORIOLES (first wild card) host #5 Twins (second wild card) in WC Series
Break up the Guardians! At 50-26 and winners of six straight, they’ve now toppled the Yankees for the best overall record in the American League, though only by percentage points (the Yanks have won two more games than Cleveland but also lost two more). The Guardians, under this way-too-early scenario, would await the winner of the Baltimore/Minneosta series.
I don’t think I would hate an O’s vs. Twins matchup, as long as the Birds caught them at the right time. The Twins have run extremely hot and cold this year, seemingly going either 6-1 or 1-6 in any given week. So too has their star shortstop Carlos Correa, who recently had a stretch in which he batted an incredible .529/.561/.804 in 12 games, then went hitless in four of his next five.
An Orioles/Twins series would prolong somebody’s October woes. The Twins set a dubious record by losing 18 consecutive postseason games from 2004-2022, the longest streak in the history of North American sports. They finally snapped the skid last year, which means the longest current postseason losing streak in MLB now belongs to…the Orioles, who have lost their last eight playoff games dating back to 2014.