Finally everyone - from the clubhouse to the dugout, to the media to the fanbase - can turn their full attention to the Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays series that begins tonight at Camden Yards.

The Orioles begin the four-game set leading the AL East by two games. A split or better would be big for Baltimore. The Rays could use three wins or better. No one will win the division this series or lose it, but the results could have a lot to say about who eventually does both.

The Baltimore offense, which put up 10 runs or more four times in a five-game span, now has scored two and no runs the past two games. They lost the series to St. Louis - their first series loss since mid August at San Diego. They were 7-0 the last seven series until losing against the Cardinals.

Both teams enter this series playing well. Tampa Bay (90-57) has won five of six, 12 of 17, 18 of 25 and 21 of the last 30 games.

Baltimore (91-54) has won eight of 11, 14 of 20, 17 of 24 and 20 of the last 29 games.

One day ahead of the start of a showdown series with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles are wrapping up their three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Orioles (91-53, .632) lead the American League East by 2.5 games right now over the Rays, which won 5-4 this afternoon against the Twins. The Orioles beat the Cardinals 11-5 Monday night but were held to nine hits in a 5-2 loss last night where they went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Before their offense was held down last night, the Orioles had scored 48 runs in the previous five games, 74 in the last nine and 155 in the previous 22 games.

The Orioles, who have 18 regular-season games left, lost for just the second time in the last 10 games. Overall they have won 14 of 19, 17 of 23 and 20 of 28 games. They are 28-12 in the last 40 games.

The Orioles are 43-27 at home, 37-18 since the All-Star game, 8-3 in September and 24-19 versus National League clubs. They have a .558 win percentage versus the NL and .663 (67-34) against the AL.

The Orioles are closing in on clinching their first playoff berth since 2016 with a magic number of four to clinch. They have bigger fish to fry, of course, and want the AL East championship, but clinching a playoff berth will come first.

The players are not yet ready to talk much about that, even with it so close at hand. They are keeping their one-day-at-a-time approach.

“I mean I think we’ve been saying it the whole year, take it game-by-game. We keep doing that, day-by-day and pitch-by-pitch and hopefully this ends with a playoff spot,” Ryan Mountcastle said this afternoon.

I asked Mountcastle today why and how the Orioles have been so good at being in first place. It is kind of a strange question, yes, but since tying for the AL East lead on July 18, they have been in first place every day since.

With their win today at Minnesota, Tampa Bay is 28-14 in the last 42 games. The Orioles are 29-13.

Orioles' outfielder Austin Hays is trying to make his July a real outlier this season. So far it is the only month his OPS was not .800 or better.

And it is a real outlier as his OPS in July was just .446. It was a month where Hays made the All-Star team and was a starter for the American League. But his bat was slumping.

And then he started to elevate the ball again and drive it more consistently and he got back on track. In 128 games for the year, he’s batting .287/.333/.462/.795. That is good for an OPS+ of 118, better than the 107 OPS+ he posted in 2021 and the 105 number from last year.

Hays’ current OPS+ number ranks fifth among O’s regulars, behind Ryan O’Hearn, Anthony Santander, Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman.

“I want to finish really strong,” he said yesterday in the Baltimore clubhouse, before going 2-for-4 in the loss to St. Louis. “Just stay focused. Don’t get complacent. I like where I am right now, but still a lot of at-bats sitting out there. Lot of opportunity left. I really want to finish strong. Just as hungry now as I was at the start of the year.”

John Means' long road back to a major league mound will finally end tonight. His last MLB game was April 13, 2022 versus Milwaukee. Later that month he underwent Tommy John surgery. 

It looked like Means would return by mid-season this year, but in late May he had a setback with a strained muscle in his upper back. And finally tonight he makes his first big league outing since that Milwaukee game. 

Means has pitched in six minor league rehab games, going 1-1 with a 3.74 ERA over 21 2/3 innings. He pitched three times at Double-A Bowie and the last three times with Triple-A Norfolk.

With the Tides he went 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA, allowing four earned runs in 14 1/3 innings with six walks, 12 strikeouts and a .216 batting average against. 

He threw 72 pitches for Norfolk on Aug. 25, and then 86 on Aug. 31. He was backed off to 67 in his most recent game last Wednesday when he allowed six hits and three runs over five innings.

Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray were Orioles Rookie of the Year winners, and last night Gunnar Henderson joined the Hall of Famers as the only rookies in team history to hit 25 or more doubles and homers in a season.

He hit homer No. 25 in the sixth inning as the Orioles beat St. Louis 11-5.

As he attempts to become the first O’s ROY since pitcher Gregg Olson in 1989, Henderson is putting the finishes touches on one strong season.

Now he put his name alongside O’s royalty.

“That is awesome,” Henderson said in the clubhouse today. “Anytime you can be considered with those two names it’s really special. Just for all they have done in Oriole history. Pretty cool to see my name with them.

In winning their last four games, the Tampa Bay Rays did gain one game on the Orioles. But chopping into Baltimore’s division lead – a lead the O's first took July 20 - has been a challenge for the Rays.

They remained three games out and the Orioles reduced their magic number to clinch the division to 16 with last night’s 11-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The O’s trailed by 4-2 in the third inning and by 5-3 heading to the last of the fifth. But two batters after Ryan O’Hearn’s double pulled the O’s within a run, Cedric Mullins' grand slam gave them an 8-5 lead. It was Mullins' second slam of the year and third of his career.

They won the series opener 11-5 and are now 91-52 with 19 games to play. The Orioles remain on a 103-win pace. They could go 9-10 the rest of the way and still win 100.

The Baltimore offense – which has been relentless recently – was that again last night.

It was a night where the Orioles trailed for most of the first 4 ½ innings. Their starting pitcher lasted just 4 1/3 innings and last-place St. Louis was trying to ruin the start of a very important week-long homestand.

Then Cedric Mullins entertained us and brought Camden Yards to life with one swing.

Mullins hit his second grand slam of the year and the third of his career to put the Orioles ahead 8-5 and they beat St. Louis tonight 11-5 at Oriole Park to improve to 91-52.

The Orioles have won eight of nine, 14 of 18, 17 of 22 and 20 of the last 27 games. They are 28-11 in the past 39 games as they opened this three-game series with their 46^th comeback win of 2023.

The O’s had scored twice in the second to lead 2-1, but St. Louis got to O’s starter Dean Kremer for the lead scoring three in the third and adding one more in the fifth.

With 20 games to play, the Orioles lead the American League East by three games over the Rays. While the Rays (88-56) play at Minnesota tonight the Orioles (90-52) will host the Cardinals to start a three-game series.

For Baltimore, this opens a weeklong homestand that will see the Birds host the Rays for four games starting Thursday night. This is the second-to-last homestand of the 2023 regular season.

The Orioles saw a seven-game win streak snapped with Sunday’s loss at Boston. Overall they have won seven of eight, nine of 12, 13 of 17 and 16 of the last 21 games. The Orioles are 27-11 (.711) in their past 38 games.

The Birds are 42-26 at home and 36-17 in the second half.

The Cardinals (63-80) are 17 games under .500 but are playing better lately winning five of its past seven, and seven of 11 games. The Cardinals have won their past two series, two to one against both the Braves and the Reds.

As left-hander John Means gets set to make his first major league start since April 13, 2022 tomorrow night against St. Louis, the anticipation is building.

The Orioles are delighted to have Means back and now, even with just 20 games left, the club will try to determine if Means can contribute to their postseason run.

Today, manager Brandon Hyde was asked what is realistic to expect from Means on Tuesday night versus St. Louis.

“Well he is built up to five-plus innings,” Hyde said. “But we haven’t seen him pitch in a major league stadium in almost two years. How he handles his expectations, anticipation and nerves. I’m sure it’s going to feel like his first start in the big leagues.”

“So, you know, I really don’t have many expectations. I’m going to be excited to watch him. Excited to have him out there and hope he pitches well.”

Credit: Kadalena Messiano

ABERDEEN, Md. – As he put the finishing touches on a fantastic late-year run with High-A Aberdeen in recent days, young O’s international catcher Samuel Basallo got on a home run tear.

He hit six homers his last seven games (going 14-for-26) including a walk-off homer on Thursday night as the IronBirds beat Greenville 6-5 at Ripken Stadium. It was a line shot to right field.

“Incredible. That was my first walk-off homer in my time in pro baseball. It felt incredible. Always dreamed of doing that one day,” said Basallo, with interpreting help from Aberdeen manager Roberto Mercado.

This young man, who turned 19 Aug. 13, from the Dominican Republic has now become a top 50 prospect nationally, one of the O’s best on the farm and a shining star for Baltimore’s international program.

Signed for the top international bonus handed out by the club in January of 2021, $1.3 million, Basallo (pronounced Ba-sigh-O) started this year with Low Single-A Delmarva and posted an .887 OPS in 83 games. That was a strong showing. Then he moved up to Aberdeen and his stats got better.

Now with 90 wins on the year, the Orioles are looking today for their 10^th series sweep of the season, after a two-game sweep of the Washington Nationals in April and eight other three-game sweeps.

The Orioles (90-51) have wins over the Red Sox this weekend by scores of 11-2 and 13-12. The Orioles allowed 23 hits yesterday as Boston went 23-for-50 (.460), but Baltimore still pulled out the win.

The Orioles' win total has exceeded the 89 from the 2016 team, the last O's club to make the playoffs. They have won 90 for the first time since the 2014 American League East champs won 96 games. The Birds have now won 90 or more 21 times in team history. 

The Orioles hit five homers in the win, two of them by James McCann. Gunnar Henderson and Aaron Hicks hit three-run shots. The O’s season high for homers is six on July 9 at Minnesota. Yesterday was the fifth game of 2023 in which the Orioles scored 13 runs or more. Their season high of 15 runs came in that July six-homer game at Target Field.

Yesterday the Orioles had 14 hits and they’ve had 10 or more hits for seven consecutive games now, their longest streak of 10 or more hits in a game since September 2011.

Once they pulled ahead to lead 5-2 in the third inning, the Orioles never trailed again on Saturday. It just felt like they did. Or that they were about to.

They gave up 23 hits and gave up three runs or more in three different innings, but when an exhausting day of baseball was over they had a 13-12 win over Boston at Fenway Park.

The Orioles have a 90-win season and now could finish 10-11 in their remaining regular season games and have a 100-win season.

They sure didn't win this game because of their pitching.

But their surging offense has now scored 34 runs the last three games, 60 in the past seven and 141 over the last 20 games.

The Orioles' latest win on their road trip allowed them to maintain a four-game lead atop the American League East with 22 to play. At 89-51 they are now closing in on a 90-win season and need to go 11-11 or better the rest of the way to record 100 wins or more for the first time since 1980.

Right-hander Kyle Bradish improved to 11-6 with a 3.03 ERA last night, giving up two runs over six innings. Bradish has an ERA of 2.08 in his past six starts and 2.33 in his last 15. The Orioles are now 18-8 in his outings this year.

The Orioles improved to 53-15 (.779) when scoring first this year, the best record in MLB and the 53 such wins are tied for fifth-most. Baltimore has recorded 10+ hits in six consecutive games, its longest such streak since Sept. 19 (G2)-24, 2011 (also six). The last time the Orioles did so in seven straight games was May 14-21, 2011.

Bradish is the third Orioles' pitcher with at least 11 wins this season along with Kyle Gibson (14) and Dean Kremer (12) and this marks the first time the Birds have had three pitchers with 11+ wins since Wei-Yin Chen (11), Ubaldo Jiménez (12), and Chris Tillman (11) in 2015. 

The Orioles are 6-1 on their road trip with six straight wins by a 47-20 score. In the six games, the team is batting .319 with an OPS of .883 and is 27-for-76 (.355) when hitting with runners in scoring position.

West Coast, East Coast. Home or road. American League East or outside of the division. Doesn't seem to matter much. The Orioles' relentless pursuit of winning carried on Friday night at Fenway Park.

The Orioles' 11-2 blowout of the Red Sox improved their record to 89-51 (.636). An 11-11 finish would net them 100 wins, but for now, they are on a 103-win pace.

Two O's teams ever won that many:

* 109 wins in 1969
* 108 wins in 1970

Remember those March over/unders that listed the Orioles at 76.5 wins for this year?

Not only have the Orioles been the best team in the American League East to this point of the year – leading the division by four games – but they have been the best team in head-to-head games within the AL East.

AL East vs. AL East in 2023:
.634 – Orioles (26-15)
.600 – Rays (24-16)
.556 – Red Sox (20-16)
.381 – Yankees (16-26)
.324 – Blue Jays (12-25)

So the O’s .634 win percentage in AL East games is about equal to the .633 win percentage for the year. The O’s are currently on a 102-win pace.

The Birds' nine-game road trip will end this weekend and they have now shifted from the West Coast to the East Coast for three games in Boston at Fenway Park. The Orioles are 3-3 against Boston this year and the teams have not played since April 26. They have not played at Fenway Park since losing two of three games there to begin the year March 30-April 2.

One reason the Orioles are in first place is their solid play in the division this year. They lost their first two AL East series of the year to the Red Sox and Yankees and have not lost a division series since, going 9-0-2 since early April.

ANAHEIM - Some of us probably don’t notice it much. But Ryan O’Hearn’s 4.5 walk rate is lowest among the 10 Orioles with 200 or more plate appearances in 2023. We don’t notice it because he is productive and thriving in so many other areas.

He hits the ball about as consistently hard as anyone on the team and has the stats to prove that. But O’Hearn won’t take all the credit for his big offense this year. Not even close. He praises the O’s hitting coaches and even notes the shift ban helping him too.

“I’ve always hit the ball hard,” O’Hearn said in an interview at Angels Stadium. “I just think the direction of where the ball is going is better now. That’s God-given and I have always put the work in. There is no secret to it – just hard work.

“I’ve probably hit the ball harder in year’s past. The hardest ball I’ve ever hit was in 2019, but I beat a lot of balls into the ground. When you do that with the shift, you don’t get many results. Guys playing short right field would throw you out.

“I think it’s a combination of the shift going away and just becoming a more complete hitter. Hitting the ball all over the field. Better launch angles have made me more consistent and able to put up better numbers.”

ANAHEIM - On the night the Orioles blew out the Los Angeles Angels 10-3 to complete a three-game sweep and win their fifth straight, two players that had strong first halves had big nights.

Both right-hander Kyle Gibson and outfielder Austin Hays have been looking to get it going and last night showed signs that both could be doing just that.

Hays has been swinging it well recently and had a 4-for-4 night with a double, two singles, a homer, three runs and four RBIs. He is now batting .288 with a .799 OPS.

At the All-Star break, Hays, a 2023 All-Star, was batting .314 but that dropped to .279 in mid August. In July he hit .162 with an OPS of .446.

Now in 18 games since Aug. 15. he is batting .338/.413/.646/1.059 with eight doubles, four homers and 13 RBIs. The Orioles are 13-5 in those 18 games.

ANAHEIM – For the second night in a row the second-place Tampa Bay Rays posted a win earlier in the night that the Orioles would later match. Tonight, the Orioles’ 10-3 romp over the Los Angeles Angels in front of 29,021 meaning they not only swept this series but maintained their season-high 3.5 game lead over the Rays atop the AL East.

The Orioles scored five early runs tonight and then added some late-game longballs to enjoy a much more comfortable win than last night when they were behind after eight innings and had to pull it out in the tenth.

Now 88-51, the Orioles are 37 games over the .500 mark for the first time since 1997. They have won five in a row on this road trip after losing the trip opener Friday in Arizona. Overall, the Orioles have won seven of nine, 11 of 14, 14 of 18 and 25 of the last 35 games.

They improved the American League’s best road record to 46-25 and are 34-16 in the second half.

Tonight they recorded their ninth series sweep and eighth of three games. 

ANAHEIM - Most of the time this year, but not all, when the Orioles won the first two games of a three-game series, they won the third game to complete the sweep.

While the Orioles have gone 84 straight series without being swept, they have nine sweeps of their own. They have seven three-game sweeps and one of two games in the 2023 season. 

They can add to their list of sweeps tonight at Anaheim against the Angels after posting wins by 6-3 and 5-4 in 10 innings at Angel Stadium.

On their recent homestand, the Orioles twice won the first two games of a series, but they lost the third both to Colorado and the Chicago White Sox.

For the year the Orioles are 7-4 in the third game of a series where they won the first two and had a chance for a sweep.