After the Baltimore Orioles’ 22-10 start, they went into a 20-39 swoon that took away any chance they’d compete for the American League East crown. While they have righted the ship a bit by going 17-13 over their past 30 games, that has just gotten them within ear-shot of seven other wild-card contenders desperately doing their daily hamster imitations.
That’s right, the AL’s second wild-card spot is now between the Orioles, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and, yes, the Toronto Blue Jays. Not only did the Orioles’ uninspiring 4-6 road trip out West cause them to lose ground to the teams in front of them and the couple they had leap-frogged, it allowed both Texas and Toronto to join the incredible race of teams going nowhere. Now do you get the hamster reference?
