Is this road trip going fast or what?

The Orioles are done with Sacramento after today, leaving them with a series in Denver before returning home for four games against the Red Sox and three against the Guardians. They’ll be finished with the “soft” part of the schedule.

Still alive but unable to breathe easy.

Everyone is chasing the Guardians for the last Wild Card, and they’ve lost back-to-back games at home to the lowly Royals and are .500 again. The Orioles are one game back.

Honest question: Are you enjoying this brazen display of parity, and that’s putting it nicely, or would you prefer really good teams playing really good baseball? Get back to me when you’re able.

Here are some random Orioles thoughts and observations before the lineup is posted:

*There are times when I feel like it’s just meant to be for the Orioles, that those meaningless odds giving them a slim chance at a Wild Card can be corrected.

Tyler O’Neill makes a diving catch in right field with two outs in the ninth on Aug. 22 to keep the score tied, and the Orioles win in 10 innings. Jackson Holliday makes a diving stop and throw in St. Louis to preserve an 8-7 lead in the ninth inning. Dylan Beavers gets his first outfield assist at home plate Friday night to keep the score tied in the eighth inning, and the Orioles win 4-3 in 10.   

Go back a month and there’s the comeback from a 7-0 deficit after six innings in Detroit with Tarik Skubal on the mound. Have a better memory than me and you’ll be able to find other examples.

Anytime the Orioles seem on the verge of getting buried, of suffering a loss that might be a spike in the coffin, they do something that saves their bacon.

All of it could become footnotes in a losing season. Time will tell.

*Did the Orioles win the deadline trade with the Mariners?

Maybe it’s too soon to say, but this isn’t quite the same as grading the deal that sent Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox. The prospects coming back to the Orioles in that one will take time to evaluate beyond their potential, which makes the same true of the trade.

Outfielder Taylor Ward can become a free agent after the season. The Orioles gave up starter Grayson Rodriguez for a rental in their trade with the Angels, and they ended up with three pitchers from Seattle’s organization in exchange for Ward.

Brock Moore is a reliever at Double-A Chesapeake. Harrison Kreiling is starting for Class A Delmarva in his first professional season. But Alex Hoppe is in the Orioles’ bullpen and working in high-leverage situations. There’s no wait with him.

Hoppe earned his first career save Friday night by letting only the automatic runner score, and he retired his only batter last night to leave the bases loaded. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 10 appearances after posting a 5.79 ERA and 1.357 WHIP in 24 games with the Mariners.

Ward had the highest on-base percentage with the Orioles while slashing .246/.383/.346 with 20 doubles, seven home runs and 87 walks in 111 games. He began yesterday 6-for-56 with the Mariners, walking seven times and striking out 16 in 16 games. He was in an 0-for-23 slump. And he missed about a week with right quadriceps tightness.

Seattle is 64-72 after a third straight loss and four games behind the Guardians.

*Colton Cowser began last night batting .227/.322/.379 in 119 games. He hasn’t made the desired strides from last season, but check out his recent work.

Cowser went 4-for-39 with no home runs in July, but he was slashing .315/.345/.593 with four homers in his first 22 games this month. He had a pinch-hit double and walk on Friday and is 9-for-18 with two home runs during a six-game hitting streak.

He hit his 13th homer last night.

His average was .209 with a .657 OPS on Aug. 20.

Mix in the best outfield defense on the team, and Cowser is becoming a more an important part of this roster.

*I won’t pretend to bring any managerial experience to this site, but that was … a choice … to have left-hander Brady Basso face Coby Mayo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand in the 10th inning of the series opener.

I also won’t claim to know everything about the Athletics’ bullpen, but man, those matchups played right into the Orioles’ right-handed bats.

Mayo and Encarnacion-Strand delivered RBI singles. Two runs scored in the 10th. One wouldn’t have sufficed.

Mayo recorded his first career go-ahead RBI in extra innings. He’s become a terror against lefties, including that 446-foot three-run homer in St. Louis. He’s a feared hitter, which was anticipated since his minor league days. He’s got a much-improved approach at the plate, seeing the ball better and producing quality at-bats.

Mayo and Pete Alonso both were 9-for-25 (.360) with five RBIs with two outs this month before last night. Encarnacion-Strand led the team with eight two-out RBIs in August.

Note: Triple-A Norfolk reliever Nick Raquet came out of last night’s game with left elbow discomfort.

Raquet appeared in four games with the Orioles and allowed three runs in 3 2/3 innings. He has a 3.68 ERA in 33 games with Norfolk.