Bags were packed yesterday and travel plans made for players to return home for the All-Star break, except for anyone who decided to stick around. The Orioles will reconvene Thursday in Houston.  They will be a fourth-place club after winning their fourth straight game yesterday, their longest streak in 2026, while Toronto lost again.

The Orioles are two games out of the last Wild Card and only three teams are ahead of them now among the outsiders. For what it’s worth, and I don’t think it’s much, Fangraphs calculates their playoff odds at 21.4 percent. But they can’t backslide after the break.

The disappointment at being 46-51 and where they’re situated can’t be ignored or downplayed. This team went into camp with World Series aspirations and didn’t perform to that level. But the American League is much weaker than in past seasons and the Orioles look much stronger despite injuries that keep piling up around them.

“I think two things can be true,” said bench coach Donnie Ecker. “Your record is the truth, and so that does define who we’ve been. It does not define where we can go. You think about what could be possible for this team and we’ll put no boundaries on what the answer to that can be.”

Clawing back to only two games outside the Wild Card showed resiliency and the talent that exists in the rotation and lineup. The bullpen also came up big in the Royals series, with 4 1/3 scoreless innings yesterday among five relievers, 2 1/3 spotless innings Saturday among three, and two scoreless Friday between Rico Garcia and Andrew Kittredge.

“Everybody knows what those numbers are,” Ecker said of the Wild Card deficit. “I think it goes back having the discipline to come in this building, put a plan together and kind of rely on our preparation and just kind of keeping prep more important than hype.”

Asked what’s frustrated him the most about the season, Ecker deflected the term as if swatting at a mosquito.

(A funnier analogy if it applied to Matt Blood, but I digress …)

“I guess I’m just not really connected to the word,” Ecker said. “I look at everything as necessary growth to eventually become what you’re gonna become. For me, I understand the word ‘frustration.’ I just think of it as stress and necessary growth that every team has to go through. And in that process you’re always becoming. So you’re becoming something.

“We really rely on the people in our clubhouse, the leadership that’s in there, and any perceived frustration to us is a part of our growth.”

How’s that for a positive spin and mindset?

Players remain united in the belief that the Orioles will be busy in October. Bags won’t be packed with flight arrangements home until much later.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said outfielder Taylor Ward. “I just think we’ve got to keep the momentum going after the break.”

If such a thing exists, of course. The prevailing theory is it’s only the next day’s starting pitcher. But better to be on a roll going into Friday than grinding again to a halt.

“Something I always remember is there’s so many games,” said Jeremiah Jackson. “Obviously, first half, second half, to me it doesn’t really matter. Just like any one player can have a really, really good first half and a bad second half, and vice-versa. I think it’s more so a timing thing, and you string along some good streaks and some good times, and you’re looking at a good little season.”

“That’s always been in our mind, that we are able to get there,” said outfielder Leody Taveras. “We’ve got enough to go there with. We’ve just got to play the game, game by game, and we’ll be all right.”

Starter Shane Baz was asked whether the streak and recent play give him confidence that the team can complete the push and jump deeper into the race.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” he replied.

“Personally, I think it starts with the pitching. You know, I think we’ve done a really good job of just giving ourselves a chance every day and coming out swinging, not being passive in the first few innings and not letting us fall behind, stuff like that. So I think it’s a great sign.

“I think that’s some of the best baseball we’ve played this year, just over the last four games. So, yeah, it’s good to see. I think everybody’s ready for a couple days off, but everybody’s excited to get going again.”

Reliever Andrew Kittredge noted yesterday that the team is playing “cleaner baseball,” which also would explain the surge.

There’s room for more improvement. They committed two more errors yesterday but also made multiple plus-defensive plays, including Tyler O’Neill and Leody Taveras in the ninth inning. Kyle Bradish carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning Saturday in part because of Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday and Pete Alonso.  

“Seems like we’re not really making some of the little mistakes we were making earlier on,” Kittredge said. “I think there’s been times in this first half where we’ve looked and played like we thought we should, and then a lot of times where it was like, man, we’re close, but we’re not winning games maybe we should have, and things like that. But lately it feels like, I know even this last month has kind of had ups and downs, but it seems like just since the last month it’s been better.

“Not all the games have amounted to wins necessarily, but it seems like we’re playing a better brand of baseball. I think the last couple nights have showed that, too, so I’m excited to see where we can go.”

The miles don’t seem quite as exhausting after a four-game winning streak, but there’s still a lot of road ahead.

“For the ups and downs and the inconsistencies, for us to be only two games out of it, I mean, that’s really encouraging,” Alonso said. “And to be honest, it’s really fortunate for us and we’re really thankful to be in this position, and we need to capitalize in the second half.”