O's and Yankees tonight, but not the showdown Birdland hoped for

It is not going to be the showdown for the American League East title we thought it could be or would be. As the Orioles play the Yankees tonight in the Bronx to start a three-game series, they still have yet to clinch a playoff berth.

Five straight series losses with a 5-10 record in that span while New York went 12-4 allowed the Yankees to open a six-game lead with six to play.

A year after winning 101 games, the O’s are fighting to get to 90 and are likely going to see the Yankees celebrate this week on their home field with a win over them.

Unless they sweep.

The Orioles' magic number to clinch a playoff berth is two. They will get there should they win tonight and either Kansas City or Minnesota loses. 

The Orioles need to use this last week to make sure they hold off the wild card teams behind them in the standings to clinch a home series next week. And they need to score more runs to take some momentum into the postseason.

A small segment of fans are saying they feel the O’s will blow a playoff spot, proving once again doomers walk among us. They can see something wrong at every turn.

For the rest of us, it’s about building momentum, and once October gets here seeing if the club can surprise everyone by looking like the Orioles from April, May and June.

The Orioles are 30-19 this year (.612) in the AL East, and they have played at a 99-win pace this year within their own division. The Yankees are 25-24 in AL East games.

But the standings count all games and the Orioles' play, even in the division, has fallen off recently.

After their first eight AL East series of the season, the Orioles were 6-0-2 and they were 19-7 in those games. In their past seven division series they are 2-4-1, going 11-12 over 23 games. This month they lost back-to-back division series, going 1-2 versus both the Rays and Red Sox. This is the first time all year the Orioles have lost two straight AL East series, and they are 8-4-3 in those division series for the season.

The Orioles are 6-4 head-to-head against the Yankees, but as it turns out, having the tiebreaker edge (if they were to win this series in the Bronx) probably won’t help them.

The Orioles have outscored New York 47-36 this year and posted a 3.50 team ERA against a team that ranks first in the AL in scoring at 5.02 runs per game. The Orioles are second at 4.80.

Baltimore pitchers have held New York hitters this year to a .210 team batting average and .687 OPS. Aaron Judge is 7-for-24 with three homers and five RBIs in the season series. Juan Soto is 11-for-38 with two homers and four RBIs.

Five teams are battling for three spots in the AL wild card race, with the Orioles four games ahead of the field. They are closing in on clinching the No. 4 seed.

* Baltimore is 86-70 with three games at New York and three at Minnesota remaining.

* Detroit is 82-74 with three versus Tampa Bay, three versus the Chicago White Sox.

* Kansas City is 82-74 with three at Washington, three at Atlanta

* Minnesota is 81-75 with three versus Miami, three versus the Orioles.

* Seattle is 80-76 with three at Houston (series began last night), three versus Oakland.

By the way, in going 30-19 within the division, the Orioles have scored 5.12 runs per game, hit 78 homers and produced a team OPS of .783 in division games. Their pitchers have an AL East ERA of 3.39 while allowing a .669 OPS.

Barring a miracle, the chance for back-to-back AL East titles for the first time since 1973 and 1974 is over. Now the Orioles need to start playing better heading into next week.

That is, when they have a chance to erase or at least make us all forget their struggles of the last few months.