O's cast in spoiler role for regular season's final week

The American League wild card race is coming down to this last week and the final days. Three AL East teams hold the top three spots currently, and two teams will make it and play in the wild card game next Tuesday at the home of the higher seed.

The Orioles will have a say in this race, playing their final two series at home versus Boston starting tonight and at Toronto starting Friday night.

After sweeping the Red Sox on the road, the New York Yankees (89-67) begin play tonight holding the No. 1 wild card spot and would host the WC game if they stay No. 1. New York plays three games at Toronto and three at home versus Tampa Bay this week. While the Yankees continue to have a losing record in AL East games for the year at 33-37, that didn't keep them from sweeping Boston, and they have won six in a row and 11 of 15.

Boston (88-68) holds the No. 2 wild card spot and is one game behind New York and one ahead of Toronto. The Red Sox play three at Baltimore and then three at Washington to end the regular season. Boston, which has never played in the wild card game, had won seven in a row before getting swept over the weekend.

Toronto (87-69) hosts the Yankees for three starting tonight, and then hosts the Orioles for three at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays are 18-7 this month, the best record in September by any AL team. But they have work to do this week.

An AL East team has won the last four wild card games: Toronto in 2016, New York in 2017 and 2018 and Tampa Bay in 2019. There was no wild card game last year due to the 16-team playoff field that followed the pandemic-shortened season.

The Orioles are 4-12 versus Boston and 1-6 at home. But since sweeping Boston to begin the 2021 season at Fenway Park, they have lost 12 of 13 in the season series.

The Orioles are 5-11 versus Toronto, going 2-5 in road games this season.

The AL wild card game is set for next Tuesday, and the two American League Division Series begin next Thursday. The 2021 World Series is set to begin Oct. 26. If a Game 7 is needed, the Fall Classic would not end until Nov. 3.

Mounty's march up the rookie lists: Ryan Mountcastle has six games remaining to make his case even stronger to be the American League Rookie of the Year. His resume is pretty solid. He's batting .258/.311/.488/.800 with 23 doubles, a triple, 31 homers and 84 RBIs.

Among AL qualified rookies, Mountcastle ranks first in homers, second in slugging, RBIs and total bases and fourth in OPS.

Mountcastle already surpassed Cal Ripken Jr. and Eddie Murray with the most homers as a rookie in team history. Now his move up the single-season rookie RBI list has one week to go. He ranks fifth with 84 and is chasing this group: Jim Gentile (98 in 1960), Ripken (93 in 1982), Murray (88 in 1977) and Ron Hansen (86 - 1960).

Mountcastle's 250 total bases are the fourth-most in a single-season by an O's rookie, behind only Murray (287 in 1977) and Ripken (284 in 1982), and teammate Trey Mancini (265 in 2017). His .488 slugging percentage is currently tied for the highest single-season mark by a rookie in team history, with the current record of .488 set by Mancini in 2017. His 55 extra-base hits rank third all-time among O's rookies, behind only Ripken (65 in 1982) and Murray (58 in 1977).

* Sunday's Orioles game was decided by three runs as they lost 7-4 to Texas. But of the club's last 26 games, 15 have been decided by one or two runs. The Orioles have gone 7-8 in those games.

* The O's rotation ERA is 2.03 over the last seven games, a stretch that includes a one-inning opener start and a three-inning outing from Chris Ellis. It is a span in which the starter gave up one earned run or none five times. In 31 innings in those games, O's starters allowed 27 hits and seven earned runs with six walks and 32 strikeouts.

* Those pitchers could use a few more runs to work with in this final week. Starting last weekend at Boston, when the O's were swept, the Orioles scored 10 runs over three games. Then they scored seven runs in three games at Philadelphia and 15 in four versus Texas. Over the past 15 games, O's batters have produced three runs or fewer 11 times.

In the series opener tonight at Oriole Park, lefty Bruce Zimmermann (4-4, 4.83 ERA) makes his first major league start since June 13, facing Boston lefty Chris Sale (5-0, 2.57 ERA).