Playoff Baseball is Officially Coming to Oriole Park at Camden Yards
While the Orioles remain in a race to win the American League East, sitting 2.5 games up over the Tampa Bay Rays with six games to play, the team has already guaranteed that playoff games will be played at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The team clinched a playoff birth on September 17th, and now no team in the American League Wild Card race can catch up to the Orioles’ current 97-59 record.
Last week, after taking two of three games from the Houston Astros, the Orioles secured at least the 4th seed and top Wild Card spot in the American League. The Orioles followed that series by taking two of four games against the Cleveland Guardians and increasing their American League East lead to 2.5 games. The Orioles also hold a tiebreaker over the Rays by taking the season series.
If the Orioles win the American League East, the team will get the #1 seed in the American League and have a bye in the Wild Card Series. They would then host the first, second, and fifth game (if needed) in the Divisional Series. If the Orioles finish in second place in the American League East, they will be the 4th seed and will host all three games of a Wild Card Series, however only two games may be needed to advance.
The Wild Card Series will begin on Tuesday, October 3rd and the Division Series will begin on Saturday, October 7th. Orioles playoff tickets went on sale last week.
The Orioles magic number for the American League East Title is 3. The magic number is a combination of wins needed by a team and losses by its closest competitor to clinch a given goal. Every time a team wins, its magic number decreases by one. The Orioles have six games left and the Rays have five games left.
The Orioles close out the regular season by hosting the Washington Nationals on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Boston Red Sox on Thursday to Sunday. The Orioles could clinch the division as early Wednesday.
The Orioles are returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. They will also host playoff games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the first time since 2014 when the team was eliminated in the American League Championship series.
The Orioles additionally have a chance to win 100 games for the first time since 1980. The team will need to win at least three of the remaining six game to reach this mark.
Photo from 2014
About the Author: Kevin Lynch
Founder and Publisher of SouthBmore.com, longtime resident of South Baltimore, and a graduate of Towson University. Diehard Ravens and O's fan, father of three, amateur pizza chef, skateboarder, and "bar food" foodie. Email me at Kevin@InceptMM.com and follow me on Twitter at @SoBoKevin.
