The Orioles celebrated last night after clinching a postseason spot. Suddenly things don’t feel quite so bad.
Your Baltimore Orioles are going to the postseason!
It’s been a rough few months in Birdland. I don’t have you tell you, you have lived it. But a solid victory over the Yankees yesterday combined with a Minnesota Twins loss sealed the deal. For the first time since 1996-97, the Orioles are going to the postseason in back-to-back years. It’s very exciting!
Last night Ryan Mountcastle got back into a major league game for the first time since August 22nd. He singled as a pinch-hitter and stayed in for the rest of the game at first base, where his defense has been missed. Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías continue to be welcome sights back in the lineup. Westburg reached base twice in the game and Urías launched a home run.
The lineup looks a lot more formidable with them in the lineup, but they weren’t the only ones who contributed last night. Colton Cowser and Anthony Santander also homered. Gunnar Henderson did Gunnar things. This team has its troubles, no doubt. But they made it this far and from here on out, anything can happen.
In Dean Kremer’s postgame interview last night with Kevin Brown, he talked about the differences between last year and this year. Last year the Orioles were successful almost from start to finish. You have to be to win 101 games. They didn’t face many challenges. This year they did. They struggled and, perhaps they learned something? As Gunnar Henderson said in his interview, they now feel battle-tested. Adley Rutschman expressed similar sentiment and said the rougher season helped the team grow closer.
Are these all just things a team says when they clinch the postseason after going through the past few months like the Orioles did? Maybe. But there might be something to it, going through hard times together. Maybe it’s not something that shows up this year, even, but helps this team down the road. Or maybe I’m just talking nonsense. Maybe I’m feeling that postseason buzz.
So here is where we stand with the American League postseason. The Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros have both clinched their divisions while the Yankees and Orioles have both clinched a playoff spot. The Yankees will win the division with their next victory or the next Orioles loss (which will be the same if it happens in the next two games).
The final two playoffs teams will be two of the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, and Minnesota Twins. The Orioles’ magic number to clinch the top Wild Card spot is two. If they win two more games to reach 89 wins, neither the Royals nor the Tigers can catch them. And of course losses by the Royals and Tigers will help the cause as well.
Because of their loss last night, the Minnesota Twins cannot capture the top wild card spot. They are currently two games behind both the Tigers and Royals and a lot of things will have to go right for them to break back into playoff position.
If you didn’t watch the postgame on MASN last night you may have missed that Colton Cowser got himself a $50 waterproof digital camera to take photos of last night’s celebration and crashed Kevin Brown’s interview with Gunnar to tell everyone to check out @cowzcam on Instagram to see the photos later. Colton Cowser is simply a delight.
pookies are looking absolutely fire tonight pic.twitter.com/EErGLhSg2P
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 25, 2024
Links
Orioles clinch playoff berth with win over Yankees, Miami victory – The Baltimore Banner
Yeah they did!
Jon Meoli: I want an Orioles-Yankees rivalry – The Baltimore Banner
What I want is for the Orioles to destroy the Yankees every single time.
Rodriguez update, Hyde on Mountcastle’s return, and more – MASN Sports
It might be time to admit that Grayson Rodriguez won’t be back for the playoffs.
Birthdays and History
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have three Orioles birthday buddies, all pitchers. Tyler Wilson turns 35 years old today. He pitched for the Orioles from 2015-2017 without much success. After leaving the Orioles, Wilson pitched three good years in the Korean Baseball Organization.
The bespectacled Vance Worley celebrates his 37th birthday. Worley had an eight-season major league career that included 2016 with the Orioles. He put up a 3.53 ERA out of the bullpen that year.
Starting pitcher Brad Bergesen turns 39 today. Bergesen spent four years in the majors, three with the Orioles. He was in the midst of an excellent rookie season in 2009 when he was hit by a line drive by Billy Butler of the Royals. It ended his season and he could not find similar success upon his return. I was always a Bergesen fan. Of course back then it was easy to form attachments with any competent baseball player.
On this day in 1983, the Orioles clinched the AL East with 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Storm Davis pitched six innings of one-run ball and Tippy Martinez picked up the three-inning save. All five runs scored on two home runs, one each from Jim Dwyer and Joe Nolan.