O's game blog: The first game of the final regular season series

The Orioles' 2024 regular season will come to an end this weekend before they begin the Wild Card Series on Tuesday, they hope at home.

The Orioles (88-71) need one more win or a Tigers loss to clinch the top Wild Card spot as the No. 4 seed in the six-team playoff field in the American League.

Kansas City and Detroit (both 85-74) could clinch playoff spots tonight. The Royals would clinch with a win in Atlanta or a Twins loss. The Tigers would clinch with a win versus the White Sox or a Twins loss.

Minnesota's only chance to make it is to sweep Baltimore and then have either Kansas City or Detroit get swept.

Should the Orioles lockdown the fourth seed, they then await to find out which club they would play. Kansas City holds the tiebreaker over Detroit.

If the Orioles get two or more wins this weekend, they will have back-to-back seasons of 90 or more wins, after winning 101 in 2023. The last time that happened was 1982 and 1983.

O's most consecutive seasons with 90-plus wins:

* Four from 1977-1980 and from 1968-1971
* Three from 1973-75  and from 1964-66
* Two from 1982-83

The Orioles lost last night 10-1 to the Yankees, missing a chance for their first three-game sweep in New York since June 6-8, 1986.

They did post back-to-back years with a record better than .500 at Yankee Stadium for the first time since doing that in three straight seasons from 1970-72. The O's went 4-3 at New York in 2023 and 4-2 this season.

The Orioles scored 33 runs over a six-game stretch until getting held to one run and seven hits Thursday night.

The Orioles are 4-3 in their last seven games, but over longer stretches, they have lost six of 10, 11 of 17 and 12 of 19 games. 

Minnesota (82-77) has fallen back in the Wild Card race and is now on the brink of elimination. But at 75-62 on Sept. 2, the Twins were 3 1/2 games out of their division race and held the second Wild Card. FanGraphs then listed their playoff odds at 95.8 percent. But they have gone 7-15 since then.

The Twins' 8-6 loss in 13 innings last night in Miami, where they went 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position, left them with four losses in the last five games and in 13 of 19 games.

Since Aug. 18, Minnesota is 12-24. In that time, they are scoring 3.8 runs per game with a team OPS of .652 and a team ERA of 4.65.

In mid-April, the Orioles swept the Twins at Oriole Park by scores of 7-4, 11-3 and 4-2.

Baltimore has won seven straight games against Minnesota, outscoring the Twins by 33 runs, 48-15, over that span. Only the Braves (eight) has a longer active winning streak against the Twins.

The Orioles enter this series with a .436 slugging percentage on the road this season, which leads the majors (the Dodgers are second at .433). They are on pace to lead the majors in road slugging for the first time since the 1996 season (.491).

On the mound tonight, O's lefty Cade Povich (2-9, 5.59 ERA) faces Twins righty Pablo López (15-9, 4.11 ERA).

Povich allowed two runs over five innings in his last two starts – both against Detroit and each time throwing 89 pitches. In four September starts, he is 1-2 with a 3.27 ERA. In that span over 22 innings, he walked seven and fanned 30.

López, who has thrown 179 2/3 innings, has made 31 starts with the Twins, going 18-13. He has a 4.50 ERA in four starts this month. On April 17, he faced the Orioles, allowing one run and two hits over six innings.