Baltimore Orioles clinch playoff berth for 2nd straight season

NEW YORK (AP) — Still 2 1/2 months shy of his 21st birthday and the legal drinking age, Jackson Holliday was given his own brand of bubbly in the jubilant Baltimore Orioles clubhouse: a bottle labeled “Baby Bird Bath Water" left in a bucket with his No. 7 jersey and a sign: “BABY'S FIRST CLINCHMAS 2024.”

“It's a little bit more enjoyable for me,” the rookie said, clutching the non-alcoholic postprandial in Tuesday night's celebration at Yankee Stadium while teammates chugged from the tubes of the Orioles Hydration Station. "I was hoping that I could get in on the fun."

Baltimore is headed to the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since the 1990s, clinching no worse than a wild-card berth.

After left fielder Colton Cowser gloved Alex Verdugo's flyout to seal a 5-3 win over the New York Yankees that brought Baltimore to the verge of the postseason, the Orioles filed into a visiting clubhouse draped with protective plastic curtains. Nine minutes later, while manager Brandon Hyde was answering postgame questions from media, Carlos Correa took a called third strike that finished Minnesota's 4-1 loss to Miami, assuring the Orioles another trip to the postseason.

“Last year winning the American League East was just such an achievement for us and the expectations were much lower,” general manager Mike Elias said. “We came into this year with higher expectations. We made a lot of moves that kind of pushed some chips in for this year and then we just didn’t have the fortune that we would have hoped for. I think today is a sense of relief.”

Coming off their first division title since 2014, the Orioles started 23-11 and were 55-31 before play on July 3 but have gone 32-39 since, slowed by a series of injuries. The Orioles had topped the division alone for 62 days and opened as much as a three-game lead.

Baltimore’s pitching staff lost Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells to elbow injuries that led to operations. Grayson Rodriguez hasn’t pitched since July 31 because of a lat problem.

“Not a lot has gone right in the last few months," Hyde said. "We're right in every game and things just haven't worked out in our favor. A ton of bad luck, too.”

Dean Kremer, who allowed one run and three hits over five innings for the win, started last year's game against Tampa Bay that assured the Orioles their first playoff berth since 2016. Eleven days later, he got the victory in the AL East clincher, which gave the Orioles 100 wins for the first time since 1980. He then lost the final game of the Division Series as Texas completed a three-game sweep en route to the Rangers' first World Series title.

“This is going to be kind of like a fresh start. We don’t have to grind now,” Kremer said.

As this year's postseason approaches, the Orioles are getting healthier. All-Star infielder Jordan Westburg came back from a broken hand on Sunday, the same day third baseman Ramón Urías returned from a sprained right ankle. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle was activated Tuesday after missing a month because of a sprained left wrist.

Baltimore has formidable power — the Orioles' 228 home runs are second only to the Yankees' 230.

“We know the type of group that we have,” said All-Star right fielder Anthony Santander, whose sixth-inning drive off the right-field foul pole gave him career highs of 44 homers and 100 RBIs.

Baltimore was knocked out in the AL Championship Series in 1996 and ’97. The Orioles (87-70) have only a remote chance of overtaking the Yankees (92-65) for the AL East title — they need to go 5-0 and the Yankees 0-5. But they hold a four-game lead for the top wild card, which would mean playing next week's best-of-three Wild Card Series at Camden Yards.

“I’m hopeful that our luck kind of evens out in the playoffs,” Elias said, "because last year we had the reverse."

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Ronald Blum, The Associated Press