Zach Wilt: Royals return to Baltimore

The harsh reality is that there isn't much hope for the postseason making a return to Birdland this season. FanGraphs.com has the Orioles' playoff chances down to 0.1 percent, and an October berth would require climbing over six teams in the American League wild card standings. Being back 7 1/2 games with only 23 remaining would make that an incredibly difficult task.

As the attention of fans in Baltimore shifts over to the team across the street that kicks off their season on Sunday, the Orioles still find themselves with a lot to play for over the remaining several weeks. They just took two of three against the wild card-leading Yankees in New York and have 17 remaining games to play spoiler against division opponents. The Birds will also face their local rivals, the playoff-hopeful Washington Nationals, in D.C. from September 21-23. Before all of that though, they'll host the Kansas City Royals for a three-game weekend series from Friday to Sunday.

The last time K.C. came to town, the stakes were a bit higher. The Orioles had just swept the Tigers in the AL Division Series, while the Royals had advanced after defeating the A's in the Wild Card Game and sweeping the Angels. Outside of Baltimore, the rest of the nation rallied around this scrappy underdog team from Kansas City as they looked to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1985.

Here in Charm City, however, four wins against the Royals was the only thing standing in the way of a trip to the Fall Classic that was 31 years in the making. Despite Kansas City's early postseason success, they seemed like less of a threat than the Angels or even the Tigers in the Division Series. K.C.'s young roster, inexperience in the playoffs and often criticized manager made this matchup seem favorable for the AL East champions. The O's had already beaten the Central division-winning Tigers, who went 13-6 against the Royals in the regular season. How tough could Kansas City be?

In the blink of an eye, the Orioles dropped both home games against the Royals and were forced to go on the road down 0-2 in this best-of-seven series. As he headed out the door, Jarrod Dyson added fuel to the fire with his bulletin board material after Game 2 at Camden Yards in which he said that the Orioles seemed to be out of fight. When asked if he expected to be back in Baltimore for Game 6, Dyson responded "No, sir, I don't. And I don't think [the Orioles] think that, either."

The Royals would of course go on to win Game 3 as the O's managed just three hits against their former starter Jeremy Guthrie over five innings. Guthrie further enhanced this new rivalry by donning a T-shirt that read "These O's Ain't Royal" during his postgame press conference. He would later apologize for offending fans that supported him for five seasons in Baltimore.

We all know how the series ended, so I'll spare you the pain of reading my short synopsis. The Royals were the real deal in 2014 and they took the Giants to a Game 7 in the World Series. Now they're back in Baltimore with a 12-game lead in their division and aspirations of getting back to where they were last season. Standing in their way are the Orioles, who, despite losing Nelson Cruz, Nick Markakis and Andrew Miller from last season's playoff roster, I'm sure remember Games 1 and 2 of the American League Championship Series vividly. I know I sure do. The Birds took just one of four from the Royals in KC earlier this season. I'm sure they'd love to even up that record with a three-game weekend sweep after their off-day today.

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zach_wilt. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.