A few notes after the Orioles get win No. 90

With their 9-2 win over the Minnesota Twins Saturday night, the Orioles improved their record to 90-71 with one game to play.

The Birds have won four of five and six of the last nine games as they are playing better with the playoffs starting Tuesday.

A win today and they would finish 33-33 in the second half.

By securing win No. 90, this O’s team is now tied for the 20^th-most wins in team history with the 1975 and 1978 teams. So 22 O’s teams have won 90 or more.

If they get win No. 91 today, the O’s will tie for the 18^th-most wins in club history with teams from 1968 and 1974.

Minnesota (82-79) has scored in the ninth inning back-to-back nights to deny the Orioles a shutout, which would be No. 10 on the year.

More longballs: The Orioles hit three homers last night – one by Ryan O’Hearn and two by Emmanuel Rivera – and they now have hit 233 for the season.

The 2024 Birds have now hit the third-most homers in club history, last night passing the 2017 squad for third-best.

257 homers – 1996

253 homers – 2016

233 homers – 2024

232 homers – 2017

217 homers – 2015

214 homers – 1985, 1998, 2012

The starters are throwing well: We know the O’s starting pitching looks in good shape for the Wild Card series with right-hander Corbin Burnes set to pitch Game 1 Tuesday. We then expect Zach Eflin to start Game 2 and Dean Kremer Game 3 if necessary.

Burnes pitched five dominant innings Thursday at New York in his playoff tuneup. Over his past three starts his ERA is 0.47 and it is 1.29 over his past six games.

In those six games, Burnes has allowed five earned runs in 35 innings with a WHIP of 0.94, a .200 batting average against and .550 OPS.

MLB, ERA leaders since Aug. 28:

0.84 – Jameson Taillon, Chicago Cubs
1.17 – Rhett Lowder, Cincinnati
1.20 – Chris Sale, Atlanta
1.24 – Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh
1.29 – Corbin Burnes, Baltimore
1.36 – Framber Valdez, Houston
1.42 – Tarik Skubal, Detroit

Right-hander Matt Bowman started and got the first four outs Saturday night. That technically adds on to a recent strong run by Baltimore starting pitching. Over the last nine games, O's starters have allowed two runs or less seven times with an ERA of 2.62.

The seeds are almost set: After last night’s play, we now know that the New York Yankees will be the American League’s No. 1 seed with Cleveland No. 2, Houston No. 3 and the Orioles at No. 4.

The Orioles will host either Kansas City or Detroit in the Wild Card series. Both clubs lost last night leaving Detroit at 86-75 and Kansas City at 85-76. Should the Tigers win today, they will be the No. 5 seed and head to Baltimore to play the Orioles. Should Detroit lose and Kansas City win, the Royals are the No. 5 seed and will be coming to Baltimore.

Of course the Orioles played both those clubs in the 2014 AL playoffs. They swept the Tigers three straight in the AL Division Series winning games started by Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price.

The O's then lost four straight to K.C. in the AL Championship Series, losing by scores of 8-6, 6-4, 2-1 and 2-1. Four losses by six runs sent Kansas City to the World Series.

The offense perks up: The Orioles have scored 16 runs on 28 hits this series, going 8-for-23 with runners in scoring position in Minnesota.

Baltimore batters scored just 24 runs in 12 games from Sept. 4-18. But now they have scored 50 runs on 95 hits the last nine games. In that span, the team batting line is .288/.340/.467/.806, they have hit 15 homers and they are scoring 5.6 runs per game. 

Emmanuel Rivera went 4-for-4 last night with two homers and four RBIs. In his past 13 games, Rivera is 13-for-37, batting .351 with an OPS of 1.044 with three home runs and nine RBIs.