The Baltimore Orioles made a strong late-season push despite the decision to be sellers at the MLB trade deadline.
Sometimes, teams get hot just in time in September, and the Orioles showed signs that maybe they could be that team.
In the end, though, they got hot just a little bit too late.
The Orioles will play the New York Yankees in a three-game series to close the regular season, one that will include a doubleheader on Friday.
The games won’t matter as much as Baltimore would’ve hoped.
Can the Baltimore Orioles Still Make the Playoffs?
The Orioles can no longer make the playoffs.
They were officially eliminated on Thursday even though they had an off day.
The key was that the Orioles needed the Chicago White Sox to lose all of their four remaining games. When the White Sox won 9-1 over the Kansas City Royals, that was the official end of Baltimore’s playoff chances.
There still would’ve been a lot of work to do. The Orioles would’ve had to sweep the Yankees and get help from the Texas Rangers, too.
None of that came to fruition, though, because the first piece of the puzzle — a Chicago loss Thursday — didn’t happen.
Baltimore had kept its playoff life alive a couple extra days by handling the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week, including a Wednesday doubleheader in which a loss in either game would’ve eliminated the Orioles.
But in the end, the hole was just a bit too deep to climb out of.
Does Anything Matter in Yankees-Orioles?
As far as the playoffs are concerned, nothing matters for this series.
The Yankees have already secured the top AL Wild Card spot, which comes with the No. 4 seed and home games for the best-of-three Wild Card Series.
The Yanks cannot catch the Tampa Bay Rays, who have clinched the AL East Division title.
And as established, the Orioles have missed the postseason officially. There’s nothing for them to chase down at this point.
If anything, the Orioles losing slightly improves their draft position for the 2027 MLB Draft — that’s not much of an incentive either way, but it’s something.
Baltimore will likely want to see Pete Alonso finish the season strong in his first season with the club after signing from the Mets. It also is always good to end the year on a high note rather than a low, particularly when facing a division rival like the Yankees.
There won’t be any scoreboard watching during these games, though. Nothing that happens elsewhere in MLB will impact these teams in the standings, or vice versa.
Can Orioles Make Playoffs? What Matters in Yankees Series