NEW YORK – Talk of a miraculous run to a division title was muted last night at Yankee Stadium. The Orioles are geared toward clinching the home Wild Card. That’s always been the more realistic outcome.

They flew to Minneapolis last night for the last three games of the regular season, returning to Target Field after sweeping the series last year by a combined score of 24-5. It’s a weird finish line, marking one ending but also the start of something much bigger.

A chance to roll those dice in October and perhaps bring Baltimore its first championship since 1983.

The season keeps evolving. The Orioles were 57-33 on July 7, with a tremendous knack for brushing off injuries like shoulder lint. They lost five of their last six games before the break and were 28-32 in the second half before arriving at Yankee Stadium and taking two of three.

Look at them now. As healthy as they’re gonna get with Jordan Westburg, Ramón Urías and Ryan Mountcastle back in the lineup, Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb back in the bullpen, and Grayson Rodriguez shut down. There’s no one else to wait for. This is it.

NEW YORK – A win tonight and the Orioles would clinch the home Wild Card. A loss and the Yankees would finally pop champagne corks as division champions, the jubilation put on ice for the first two games of the series. The out-of-town scoreboard didn’t require watching. The important stuff was happening on the field.

The starting pitchers were worthy of the importance attached – former Cy Young winners Corbin Burnes and Gerrit Cole. Lay down your aces.

The Orioles are eyeing bigger stakes. They shuffled the deck, shortening Burnes to five innings and 69 pitches to freshen him for Tuesday’s assignment. And the game collapsed like a house of cards.

Burnes’ only mistake was a solo homer by Giancarlo Stanton. The Yankees scored six times in the sixth inning against three relievers, Aaron Judge delivered a towering two-run shot in the seventh, and the Orioles were eliminated from the American League East race with a 10-1 loss in the Bronx. They’ll try to secure the first Wild Card this weekend in Minnesota.

Cole shut out the Orioles (88-71) on two hits in 6 2/3 innings and the Yankees avoided the sweep.

With 5-3 and 9-7 wins the last two nights at Yankee Stadium, the Orioles can sweep their three-game series at New York tonight.

The Orioles (88-70) have four games left in the regular season and a series at Minnesota beginning tomorrow night.

They have five sweeps this year of at least three games, but none since early June. They swept three at Boston April 9-11, versus Minnesota April 15-17 and at Cincinnati May 3-5. Their past two sweeps are four-game sweeps at the Chicago White Sox May 23-26 and at Tampa Bay June 7-10.

In going 8-4 this season against the Yankees, the Orioles have a team ERA of 3.75 allowing a .698 OPS in the 12 games. The O's batters score 5.08 runs per game with a .754 OPS.

In going 4-1 at Yankee Stadium, the Orioles have scored 40 runs with a .320 batting average and .908 OPS.

NEW YORK – The Orioles know who’s starting the first game of the Twins series. The rest is dependent on “what happens,” said manager Brandon Hyde.

Rookie left-hander Cade Povich gets the ball at Target Field. Albert Suárez and Dean Kremer are lined up for the last two games, but they might not matter.

A win tonight secures the first Wild Card. A Yankees win eliminates the Orioles in the division race, but they could clinch the No. 4 playoff spot after Friday.

A “bullpen game” on Sunday isn’t ideal with a possible Game 1 two days later. A possible solution is calling up a pitcher to handle bulk innings and optioning him afterward. Trevor Rogers and Chayce McDermott fit the description and there are a few others.

Another pitcher would need to be optioned to make room, and he wouldn’t be eligible to return unless as an injury replacement until the Championship Series.

NEW YORK – The Orioles can clinch the home Wild Card with a win tonight or a Tigers loss this afternoon. The Rays are ahead 3-2 in the seventh.

Update: The Tigers rallied for a 4-3 win.

James McCann is catching tonight and Adley Rutschman is the designated hitter. Jordan Westburg stays at second base, batting second, and Ramón Urías is the third baseman. He’s batting seventh.

Colton Cowser stays in the cleanup spot. Ryan O’Hearn is the first baseman.

Corbin Burnes makes his final start before an expected Game 1 assignment in the playoffs. His last two starts came against the Tigers and he tossed a combined 14 scoreless innings with five hits and 15 strikeouts. He faced the Yankees on May 1 at Camden Yards and allowed two runs in six innings – Oswaldo Cabrera’s two-run homer.

NEW YORK – The mailbag boarded an Acela early Tuesday morning to Moynihan Train Hall, free from the usual inspections that come at airports. You could carry a human head and no one would notice. But if you see something, say something.

Among the mailbag’s many wonderful qualities is a water-proof exterior, which also protects it from champagne, beer and close talkers. Ideal for clubhouse celebrations.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get past Yankee Stadium security. Gotta have a credential.

This is the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. Any thoughts of editing questions have been eliminated like the White Sox in June.

Also, my mailbag clinches and yours flinches.

As the phrase goes the Orioles have been “getting the band back together” getting some of their injured list players back recently as Jacob Webb, Danny Coulombe, Ryan Mountcastle, Ramón Urías, Jordan Westburg and Heston Kjerstad have all made it back to the active roster.

It is a big boost to a team that recently had 12 players on the injured list.

And while the O’s pitching staff took a big injury hit even before the All-Star break, some MLB stats indicate that the Orioles have not been hurt as badly on the injury front as other clubs. At least when looking at player games missed.

This is total games that players on the injured list have missed this year for each club and each missed game counts the same whether it is an All-Star that is out or the last guy on the roster. So we need to keep that in mind.

But here are the top clubs in most player games missed to this point, according to Stats Perform:

With a playoff berth now secure, the Orioles play at New York tonight looking to wrap up the top American League Wild Card seed. At five games behind the Yankees with five to play, they also are still mathematically alive for the AL East championship.

An O's win tonight would push them closer to that top Wild Card slot while keeping their faint division hopes alive for another day.

In Tuesday's 5-3 win at Yankee Stadium, they got solo homers from Anthony Santander (No. 44), Ramón Urías (No. 11) and Colton Cowser (No. 23). Santander's homer hit the right-field foul pole, going just 344 feet, while Urías hit one 405 and Cowser's blast went 432 feet.

Santander's homer also produced his 100th RBI, which is five more than his career high from 2023. Santander's 195 RBIs since the start of last year put him tied for 11th in the majors. He is tied with former Oriole Manny Machado.

He homered for the third time in five games and has hit 35 in his last 100 games, since June 1. Santander has four homers in 11 games versus the Yankees.

Considering the 2024 season was his fourth in pro ball, but just his second full season of minor league ball, O’s 20-year-old catching prospect Samuel Basallo has accomplished a lot.

He has flown up prospect rankings to now be a top 10-15 player. He repped the Orioles in the Futures Game this year. He was named the High-A Carolina League MVP last season and named that league’s top MLB prospect.

Just yesterday he was named the top MLB prospect in the Double-A Eastern League for his play with Bowie this season. In late August he moved to Triple-A Norfolk for the first time.

“I just feel extremely proud,” Basallo said during a phone interview yesterday via team interpreter Brandon Quinones. “Looking back, I didn’t start the year the way that I want or we wanted, but to be able to be named the top prospect in that league, it means a lot to me for sure. I’m really proud of that.”

But something Basallo and his family are also quite proud of, has nothing to do with prospect rankings or anything on a stat sheet.

Still looking to clinch an American League playoff berth, with a magic number of two, and still not officially eliminated from AL East contention, the Orioles begin their final road trip of the regular season tonight at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles can clinch a postseason slot tonight with a win and a loss by either Kansas City or Minnesota. 

Where once we thought this series might be the one to decide the AL East, the Orioles go into it six games behind with six to play, and one Yankees win will clinch them the division title.

The Orioles enter this series with an 86-70 record, clinching their second consecutive season finishing at least 10 games over .500 (101-61 in 2023). It’s the first time Baltimore has finished consecutive seasons 10 games over .500 since a streak of two between 1996 and 1997, per Stats Perform.

New York (92-64) is headed to the postseason for the seventh time in the last eight seasons (since 2017) and it's their 25th trip to the postseason in the last 30 years (since 1995).

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated INF Ryan Mountcastle from the 10-day Injured List (left wrist sprain).
• Optioned OF/DH Eloy Jiménez to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Released RHP Craig Kimbrel.

It is not going to be the showdown for the American League East title we thought it could be or would be. As the Orioles play the Yankees tonight in the Bronx to start a three-game series, they still have yet to clinch a playoff berth.

Five straight series losses with a 5-10 record in that span while New York went 12-4 allowed the Yankees to open a six-game lead with six to play.

A year after winning 101 games, the O’s are fighting to get to 90 and are likely going to see the Yankees celebrate this week on their home field with a win over them.

Unless they sweep.

The Orioles' magic number to clinch a playoff berth is two. They will get there should they win tonight and either Kansas City or Minnesota loses. 

Well, Captain Obvious said that losing five straight late-season series is no way to win the American League East or build momentum for the playoffs.

With the AL East now all but gone, the Orioles have one week left to get more at-bats for returning players like Jordan Westburg and Ramón Urías and innings for relievers Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb. Grayson Rodriguez hasn't made it back yet and neither has Ryan Mountcastle, but at least he is playing in games.

In their past five series, the Orioles are 1-2 versus the Rays, Red Sox, Tigers, Giants and Tigers.

The Orioles (86-70) are six games behind the Yankees (92-64) with six to play. Their only chance at the division is to go 6-0 while New York goes 0-6.

When the Orioles won last Saturday night at Detroit, on Sept. 14, they were just two games out of first place. On Sept. 10 they were a 1/2 game behind.

Jordan Westburg’s return from the injured list yesterday pushed Jackson Holliday to the bench. Westburg wasn’t playing third base due to Ramón Urías’ simultaneous return. The setup was cemented.

The times are changing, and back to the norm.

Holliday won’t be buried but his opportunities to start could be impacted, and especially against left-handed opposing pitchers. Urías was the club’s hottest hitter at the time that his right ankle rolled on Aug. 31 in Colorado while he covered the bag on a stolen base. Sending him back to his previous utility role might have to wait until 2025 if he’s back with the club as expected.

Asked yesterday whether he’d stay with Westburg at second and Urías at third, with maybe the occasional starts for Holliday, manager Brandon Hyde said it depends how the Orioles are hitting.

“Ramón was swinging the bat great until he got hurt, swung the bat great today, and Westy will be in there,” he said. “So it’ll be day-to-day.”

The Orioles played their first home game of the 2024 season on March 28 and they beat the Los Angeles Angels 11-3 on Opening Day. This afternoon they play their final home game of the regular season, still hoping home playoff games at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Along those lines, the O's report for duty with the same magic number as they had on Saturday, which is three, with the same scenario for clinching. They will wrap up a playoff berth today if they beat Detroit and Seattle loses at Texas. That game begins at 2:35 p.m. ET. 

The Orioles (86-69) have seven games remaining and hit the road after today for three games at Yankee Stadium and three at Minnesota to wrap up the regular season.

If the Orioles do clinch a playoff berth, they will be in the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time since 1996 and 1997.

They certainly must feel they let one get away yesterday, losing 6-4 to Detroit in 10 innings. Down 4-2 in the last of the ninth they tied the game 4-4 on Gunnar Henderson's two-run double. They had runners at second and third with no outs but could not push across another run to walk off the Tigers.

The Orioles are in communication with Baltimore City, Maryland Department of Transportation, and Maryland Transit Administration officials on traffic implications due to a fire at S. Lombard St. and Eutaw St.

Fans should use caution and allot for increased traffic in the downtown area if heading to this afternoon’s game. The impacted grid is from Paca St. to Eutaw St. and Pratt St. to Baltimore St.

Official communication from MTA:

All Light Rail service south of North Avenue is suspended. This six-alarm fire downtown occurred as we were pulling trains out for today’s service and it has prohibited us from getting any trains south of North Avenue. MTA will be implementing a Bus Bridge from North Avenue to Cromwell and BWI. We also recommend using regular bus service as we expect this to be a prolonged incident and response.

For further updates, please monitor Baltimore Fire, Baltimore County Police, MDOT, and the Orioles on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Reinstated INF Ramón Urías from the 10-day Injured List (right ankle sprain).
• Reinstated INF Jordan Westburg from the 10-day Injured List (right hand fracture).
• Optioned OF Daniel Johnson to Triple-A Norfolk.
• Optioned INF Livan Soto to Triple-A Norfolk.

The Kansas City Royals lost again, so the Orioles' four-game lead for the first American League wild card berth is still intact. But they had a chance to build some real momentum and get their mojo back.

It sure looked like they were doing exactly that, until they were not.

Most Valuable Oriole Gunnar Henderson doubled in two runs in the last of the ninth and the Orioles and Tigers were tied at four. More than 39,000 fans were roaring. Another walk-off seemed moments away.

Second and third, no outs. But no more runs. A 6-4 loss to Detroit in 10 innings was a gut punch.

A few random thoughts:

The baseball math can’t be manipulated tonight to give the Orioles a playoff-clinching scenario. It only worked if they won.

Cade Povich held the Tigers to two runs for the second time in less than a week and the Orioles rallied for two in the ninth to send the game into extras, but the Tigers scored twice against Yennier Cano in the 10th and won 6-4 before an announced crowd of 39,647 at Camden Yards.

An Orioles win coupled with a Mariners loss tonight would have delivered back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since 1996-97. Now, we wait a little longer.

A possible alternative is clinching in their final home game of the regular season. Otherwise, they must do it on a trip that takes them to New York and Minnesota.

The Orioles are 86-69 and in danger of losing their fifth series in a row.

If you didn't think a team could erase a magic number of three in one day, you are wrong. The Orioles begin today with a magic number of three to wrap up a 2024 MLB playoff spot. They can get there with a win over Detroit this afternoon and a loss by Seattle tonight at 7:05 p.m.

A potential Clinchmas is here for an Orioles team that heading into Thursday's game having lost five of six, eight of 10 and nine of the last 12 games and was 26-30 in the second half.

The Orioles (86-68) take the field today with eight games remaining. They are four games behind New York for the American League East lead and four ahead of Kansas City for the No. 1 AL wild-card spot. If the O's wrap up the No. 1 wild-card berth, should they not win the AL East, they will host all games in the best two-of-three wild-card playoff round beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

The Orioles hit a season-best five home runs last night in beating a hot Detroit team 7-1. The Tigers (80-74) entered the night having won four in a row, nine of 11 and 18 of 25. And since Aug. 11 Detroit was 25-10, best in the majors in that span.

But Anthony Santander hit his 43rd home run while Colton Cowser and James McCann hit two homers each. It was Cowser's second career multi-homer game and McCann's third.