After beating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 today, the Baltimore Orioles have claimed their first postseason berth since 2016. They celebrated this by throwing a massive party in the Baltimore clubhouse, and this celebration created some odd stories, to say the least.
According to Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles' players used the same celebration as when they hit home runs, but instead of using water, they started chugging beers down the home run hose.
A later report from Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner said they ran out of beer, so instead of dumping beer on players they were pushing around in a cart, they decided to start dumping condiments like ketchup and mustard on players like Heston Kjerstad, who just played in his second career MLB game.
Orioles celebrate playoff berth in style after impressive turnaround
The Orioles are currently in a division race with the Tampa Bay Rays, who also clinched a playoff berth for the fifth year in a row.
The Orioles hold the lead, up two games but have 13 games remaining while the Rays have only 11 left. The Rays also have a harder schedule, which includes playing the Toronto Blue Jays six times, making it seem likely that the Orioles will clinch the division, which would also include a first-round bye.
In 2021, the Orioles held a record of 52-110, which led to them receiving the first overall pick, which they used to select Jackson Holliday. The next season in 2022, they emerged as contenders with a record of 83-79, making it the ninth biggest year-to-year improvement in wins in MLB history.
So far in 2023, the Orioles have 10 more wins with still 13 games left. While it took years to happen, Baltimore is finally done with their rebuild and are ready to become a dynasty, chasing the postseason for the coming years with manager Brandon Hyde.
According to FanGraphs, after clinching a postseason birth, the Orioles now hold an 80.2 percent chance to clinch the division as well as the first-round bye. They currently have a 5.0 percent chance of winning the World Series. Meanwhile, FanGraphs gives the Braves a 29.7 percent chance to win the World Series.
However, upsets are very common in the postseason. This was evident when the Phillies in 2022 had a pre-season chance of only 4.2 percent but ended up reaching the World Series, where they lost to the Astros, still managing to surprise the world.
