For The First Time In 27 Years, The Orioles Have Made The Playoffs In Back-To-Back Seasons!

Jim McIsaac. Getty Images.

Pop em boys, you're playing baseball in October! For the first time since 1996-1997 the Orioles made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. Making the playoffs is hard but the O's are back in them and have a chance to make a run at this thing. Baring a miracle that includes the Yankees losing out and the Orioles winning out it seems like Baltimore will have to settle for a Wild Card spot, most likely the top Wild Card seed. What started out as a very promising year eventually saw the season really start to go off track with injuries and bad luck. Piece by piece the O's lost key members of the team and it all seemed to really come at once. 

All summer long they were neck and neck with the Yankees in a dogfight and eventually just couldn't keep pace, the injuries really took a toll on this team. 58-38 through the first half of the season but the second half was a battle. They couldn't win series, they couldn't hit the ball, they could't stay healthy. Lost control of the division but did just enough to stay in the Wild Card hunt while everyone else behind them struggled too. This was not an easy year for the O's and you could hear it in Brandon Hyde's voice when he addressed the team in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium after a 5-3 win (with some help from the Marlins beating the Twins as well). 

The amount of bad luck this team had, it seems like every play has gone against them since the All-Star Break, the injuries to MAJOR contributors. Look at these names who have missed a significant period of time…..

-Felix Bautista 

-Kyle Bradish

-Tyler Wells

-John Means

-Danny Coulombe

-Grayson Rodriguez 

-Dean Kremer

-Jordan Westburg 

-Ramon Urias

-Ryan Mountcastle

-Jorge Mateo

-Jacob Webb

-Zach Eflin

-Heston Kjerstad

I know that every team has injuries, literally every team in every sport has injuries….but this is an insane amount. It's more than your average team. To lose this much horsepower and still make the playoffs is pretty crazy. When you're starting guys like Nick Mason, throwing guys like Vinny Nittoli, Colin Selby, Matt Krook, and Emmanuel Rivera you know it's not going well. That is how it was going for the O's until last week when they started getting reinforcements back. Webb and Coulombe came back to help out the pen in a big way, Jordan Westburg, Urias and Mounty returned in the past few days and have provided so much stability in their short time back. They have looked and played better since Sunday when Westy and Ramon got back, things are finally clicking and we're seeing a full lineup again now. Nothing was easy for them down the stretch but they never let it really spiral out of control. They never lost the 5-6 in a row, they were able to stay ahead of the AL Central teams and now will have to wait to see who they play out of that group. 

This team had World Series aspirations out of the gate and I think it's safe to say those are still alive. They can make a run here,  there is a path. Stay healthy and get hot, it's been done before. Corbin Burnes, Zach Eflin and Dean Kremer are a damn good trio in a short series, why not the O's? The division was the goal but that likely won't happen. They did that route last year and got swept after having the Wild Card series off, they likely won't have to deal with the layoff this year. Maybe that is a detriment to top seeded teams, you want to play and stay hot instead of see rest, but O's won't have to worry about that. The celebration was good, it was subdued but it's nice to see these guys celebrate and have fun. These last few months have been such a grind for them. Lots of ups and downs, more failures than successes recently but they did something in Baltimore that hasn't been done in almost 30 years.  A VERY challenging year in Baltimore. All you need is a ticket to the dance and the Orioles got one, now let's see if they can get over the hump and make a little run here. 

Gonna toss some of the highlights from the O's clubhouse celebration, you can tell the young guys were having a blast celebrating this playoff berth. 

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Hyde really let his emotions go when talking post game. You can hear how relieved he sounds. I'm sure it was not a great time in and around his office for the last 3 months but they got through it. He gets a lot of shit but I'm happy for him, he clearly didn't lose the locker room like everyone thought he did. 

What an interview with KB, Gunnar and Colton. 3 very unique personalities but you can tell why Colton is such a damn menace, the guy is hilarious. DoorDashed a digital camera (follow @cowzcam on IG) so he could take some pics of the celebration. He's great. From the camera, to seeing the third understudy for Daisy in "The Great Gatsby", to the selfie, to Gunnar bitching that he didn't get invited. Just so funny. But when you hit a bomb like he did last night you can do whatever you want, that's my ROY. 

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Jackson Holliday didn't have the rookie year we thought he'd have but he did have some huge moments. He's going to be a VERY good baseball player very soon. He'll win a gold glove soon, he'll be a very good big leaguer. 20-years old and he struggled a lot, but the tools are there and we saw plenty of flashes. Get your jokes off now because you're going to be eating crow very soon. Nice of the O's to set up a nice little under 21 bird bath for him along with champagne labeled "0.0% alcohol for Orioles under 21." Love that for him, he's going to have a big hit in these playoffs. 

Hydration station, duh. 

Ryan O'Hearn saying what we all know, no one on Twitter knows anything and we're all gigantic idiots.

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Good for them, it's hard to make the playoffs. It's harder to make them back-to-back years. The Rangers won the World Series and couldn't make it back this year. The Yankees didn't make it last night. It's not a given that you can just show up in April and you'll be there in October, it's insanely tough. Now they look to change the narrative from last year by finishing this year strong and winning a playoff series. Pressure is kind of off them now, that's a dangerous team to play. You don't want to guys who have no pressure on them, just saying. Enjoy the celebration, enjoy the night but still time to lock up the top Wild Card spot and see what you can do from there. They've been looking better and better since adding the pieces back….don't let them get hot!