Orioles’ path to playoffs got significantly harder thanks to Tuesday’s weather postponement

The baseball gods just do not want to do the Baltimore Orioles any favors in their last gasp chance at the playoffs. The Orioles and Blue Jays had game two of their three game series postponed on Tuesday forcing a double header today.

Taking both games of a same-day double header happens more often than fans may realize. According to data compiled by MLBSweep.com, approximately 50% of same-day doubleheaders have resulted in a sweep since 1961, though in 2026, only 30% of the 20 this season have been swept.

The Orioles were already in all out win mode. Heading into the series, they had very little margin for error. They really needed to sweep their final six games for any shot at the playoffs, plus they needed help from other teams around the league to beat the other two teams in front of them.

The O's started strong on Monday. In a very small slate of games around the league, the O's were the only team of the four vying for the final Wild Card spot playing. After giving up three runs in the top of the first, the O's climbed back. They answered in the bottom of the first with one run, got a second run in the sixth, and then Pete Alonso, the man who's been leading the team through the final stretch, hit a two run home run in the bottom of the eighth that ended up being the game winning runs.

Orioles did their job on Monday, but other results (and the weather) didn't help their chances

That win got them to 4.5 games behind the White and kept their magic number at two. They headed into Tuesday needing to grab another win, but the weather had other ideas.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, the White Sox did play on Tuesday and got a win. They marched over the Royals, 14-11. The score was closer in that game then it probably felt. By the end of the fifth, the White Sox were leading, 9-4, and then they added five runs in the seventh to make it 14-4. The Royals added seven runs over the final two innings.

That White Sox win meant the Orioles magic number shrunk to one, yesterday. That means from here on out, the Orioles need to win out and the White Sox need to lose out. What was already a climb straight up a cliff has become ever harder for the Orioles. They know what they need to do to make the playoffs, but the best thing they can do is take it one game at a time.

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