The off-day must have seemed like a pitcher of ice water for a team crawling through the desert. Picture that. Sweet relief after playing 16 days in a row and losing important games and members of the roster.

The Orioles won six of the first seven. Colton Cowser made the leaping catch to take away a walk-off home run in Colorado, they were .500, and their playoff odds climbed almost as high as the center fielder.

Seven losses followed in the last nine games, including six in a row and a brutal sweep by the Red Sox. The spinning of wheels continued for the Orioles with an 8-8 stretch, inching a little closer and drifting back. Brushing against the third Wild Card and relinquishing contact again.

A miraculous run down the stretch won’t allow for dead periods or just claiming a series. It requires sweeping opponents, beginning this weekend with the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Do it and the believers may return. Stranger things have happened, right? The Guardians are in Minnesota, another of the chasers, after losing five of their last nine – reaffirming my belief that teams are treating that third Wild Card like a case of herpes. Nobody wants it.

The final homestand brings the Brewers, owners of the best record in baseball, and Blue Jays to Camden Yards. Those games could hold no value to the Orioles, depending on this road trip that includes Pete Alonso’s return to Citi Field.

The Jays are 73-74 and two games ahead of the last-place Orioles in the division, but no one really cares. This is about the playoff standings, and Toronto trails Cleveland by one game.

The Orioles lost two of three against the Jays in late May at Camden Yards – reliever Jeff Hoffman had a win and a loss – and two of three the following month in Toronto. Tie-breakers matter and the Orioles lost the season series to the Guardians and Rangers.

Chris Bassitt’s revenge game 2.0 is tonight. He spent the past three seasons with the Jays and limited them to one run over six innings on May 28 at Camden Yards. He made one more start and spent over two months on the injured list with a back injury that required surgery to remove a bone spur from the facet joint. The veteran right-hander has posted a 4.34 ERA in five starts since his return.

Bassitt has registered a 3.53 ERA and 1.385 WHIP in eight home games and a 6.43 ERA and 1.786 WHIP in nine road appearances. But he’s made 53 career starts at Rogers Center and posted a 3.45 ERA and 1.207 WHIP in 315 2/3 innings.

Another stat nugget: Left-handers are batting .322/.397/.505 against Bassitt this season, and right-handers are hitting .264/.333/.321.

George Springer is 8-for-23 with a double and two homers against Bassitt. Myles Straw is 5-for-13.

Ryan Mountcastle has returned to Sarasota while rehabbing a serious left oblique injury. He spent a few days in the clubhouse and the team said he’s initiating a hitting progression, but he sustained a major tear and isn’t returning.

The Orioles could use him at Rogers Centre, where he’s a career .278 hitter with nine doubles, eight home runs, 26 RBIs  and an .875 OPS in 34 games. The doubles, homers, RBIs and 35 hits are his highest road totals. He went 11-for-13 (.846) in a 2023 series, the highest average for any player in Orioles history in a minimum 10 plate appearances in a four-game set.

After that final game, Mountcastle was batting .333 with a 1.046 OPS at Rogers Centre and Jays manager John Schneider told reporters, “Maybe it’s something here in Toronto that he likes, whether it’s Tim Hortons, poutine or the backdrop here. Who knows?”

“They’re not going to let him back in here,” said former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “I’m going to put a massive Rogers Centre banner in his locker to remind him of what it feels like when he hits here.”

Adley Rutschman is a career .304/.397/.552 hitter with seven doubles, eight homers and 26 RBIs in 32 games at Rogers Center, but, you know, he’s catching for the Red Sox.

The defending American League champions have dropped three of their last four games, including a series loss in Sacramento, after winning seven of eight, which is appropriate for a 2026 season defined by its hot and cold flashes.

Maybe its menopause.

“We’re right there,” Springer told the media Wednesday night.

Similar stuff is said in the Orioles’ clubhouse. And the Guardians, Twins, Rangers.

“This team’s going to be playing some meaningful baseball over the next 15, 16 days,” Springer said. “I think everybody in that locker room believes in each other and understands the mission and knows what has to happen.”

Again …

The Jays’ 140 home runs ranked 28th yesterday in the majors, and a .692 OPS was 27th. The pitching staff’s 3.91 ERA was 10th.

Max Scherzer is on the mound tonight for Toronto, which brings the total age of the starters to 79.

Scherzer, 42, has a 6.03 ERA in 14 games. He’s gone on the injured list twice with a combination of right forearm tendinitis, left ankle inflammation and, after one appearance in his return, back spasms.

The future Hall of Famer registered a 10.23 ERA and 1.727 WHIP in six starts in the first half and a 3.76 ERA and 1.156 WHIP in eight starts since his second reinstatement from the IL.

Pete Alonso is 4-for-20 with two doubles and 10 strikeouts against Scherzer, who’s making his 19th career start against the Orioles. He has a 3.54 ERA, 1.080 WHIP and 135 strikeouts in 112 innings. Seven of his 223 wins have come against them.