Birdland dream scenario: O's beat out the Yankees for the playoffs

It is a scenario that probably the most enthusiastic and exuberant Orioles fans among you could not have imagined: The 2020 Orioles knocking the New York Yankees out of the playoffs.

Remember before the season, when some fans wondered if the Orioles could contend in a shortened season with expanded playoffs? Well, those two factors have combined to see the Orioles indeed as contenders with 19 games to play.

Through last night's games, every team that is playing .500 baseball would qualify for the playoffs and every team that is not would not. But the Orioles are now just one win away from .500 after crushing the New York Mets 11-2 last night. The Orioles are 20-21 after that win. The last time they were .500 better is when they were 14-14 on Aug. 23.

After winning four in a row and six of the last eight the Orioles are just a half-game behind the Yankees for the No. 8 American League playoff spot. And the Yankees are struggling big-time. A team that was once 16-6 has now lost 15 of its last 20 games. They could fall under .500 if they lose a third straight to the Toronto Blue Jays tonight. And by the way, they will play the Orioles four times starting tomorrow night and they will play Toronto in seven of their next 10 games after the series with the Orioles.

A chance at the playoffs - expanded or otherwise - was a real longshot scenario for an O's team that some said would not go 20-40 this year. But beating out the Yankees for the playoffs, well, that would probably be good news-overload around Birdland.

No matter what happens in the final 19 games, O's fans have to be thrilled with so many aspects of this season. Prospects have been called up and have produced right away. The O's acquired three top 30 prospects in trades and have as many as six players to be named later still coming. The team has beefed up on the international and analytics fronts big-time and some analysts feel they had an outstanding 2020 draft of six players.

While the current team is exciting the fanbase now, the building of the elite talent pipeline is ongoing.

Analyst Ben McDonald said on the MASN broadcast last night that Brandon Hyde should get some consideration for American League manager of the year. Yes, he should.

With this recent run of wins, coupled with the arrival of prospects and the strong run of pitching, a lot has changed in a short time in Birdland.

It was just nine days ago that the Orioles took a 5-4 lead to the last of the ninth in Buffalo against Toronto before losing again in a walk-off on Teoscar Hernández's two-run single. They were 14-19 and had lost 11 of 13 games. They were 4 1/2 games out of a playoff spot.

The next day lefty Keegan Akin made his first O's start, they won in 11 innings and things have been much better ever since. The Orioles are now much closer to both the .500 mark and a playoff spot.

The final 19 games should be rather interesting.

More notes on the Orioles:

* The team has outscored its opponents 28-7 during the four-game win streak. The last three wins have come by five, four and nine runs.

* The team ERA is 1.06 and the pitching staff has recorded 33 strikeouts during the four games. The starters' ERA over that stretch is 0.81. The O's rotation has pitched to a 2.52 ERA in the last eight games.

* Ryan Mountcastle hit a two-run homer in last night's win and has eight RBIs his last four games. DJ Stewart added a second-inning, two-run homer and has hit four homers his last three games.

* The Orioles average 5.81 runs per game in 16 road games, going 10-6. Entering last night's game they had a team slash line of .279/.335/.442 with a .777 OPS away from Camden Yards.

* José Iglesias is batting .397 (23-for-58) during a 13-game hitting streak, with eight RBIs. Rio Ruiz blasted a three-run homer Tuesday night, hit 107 mph off the bat. He is batting .367 (11-for-30) during a nine-game hitting streak. Pat Valaika hit a solo homer and is batting .429 (12-for-28) over his last nine games.