Twenty-three years ago, coming off a last-place, 100-loss season, the Orioles made an improbable run for the AL East. Their season ended with a three-game series against the division-leading Blue Jays in Toronto; they went in 1 game down, which means they needed to win 2 games to force a playoff or sweep to win the division. But they lost 2 of 3 and went home.
I’ll just say this. The Angels are 1 1/2 games out of the wild card right now, but I think they have the strongest team of anyone still in the chase, and they’re likely to take one of the spots. That leaves one wild card. At the moment, Baltimore and Tampa Bay are the top two contenders. The Orioles finish the season with a three-game set against the Rays on the road. It could easily be the case that they start that series a game behind TB for the second wild card.
If so, let’s hope it goes better this time.
Quomodocumque 
Do you still think the Angels have the best chance considering their pitching problems recently? Giving up that many runs to a weak hitting team like Tampa Bay can’t be a good sign. I think Tampa Bay (with their monster pitching staff) has the best shot at the top spot with the Tigers and O’s fighting it out for the second spot. It could still come down to the last series, but Tampa Bay might already be in at that point. No matter what happens, it’s great to finally have a shot at the postseason in Baltimore!
I’m mystified by LAA’s fade; they could still make a run but they may have waited too long, given the number of teams they have to pass. Playoff Odds Report seems to think it’ll be Tampa Bay and whoever doesn’t win the Central, which sounds reasonable; though I still think their dogged insistence that the Orioles are a .430 team is nuts.
To sum up, I think the chance that the Orioles make the playoffs is not that great, but the chances are much better that on the morning of October 1 they’ll be 3 or fewer games back of Tampa Bay for the last spot, which puts their fate in their own hands as in ’89; can’t ask for more than that.