The Baltimore Orioles were tied for the worst record (52-110) in MLB in 2021. The Seattle Mariners have the longest playoff drought (2001) in North American team sports.
And now they each have 10-game winning streaks.
On Wednesday night, the Orioles took down the Chicago Cubs 7-1, and the Mariners swept a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals with 6-4 and 2-1 victories.
MASN’s Roch Kubatko tweeted several wild factoids about the Orioles:
- At 45-44, the Orioles above .500 for the first time since April 8, 2021.
- It took the Orioles until Sept. 8 in 2021 to get win No. 45.
- Baltimore hasn’t been above .500 this late in the season since Sept. 8, 2017.
- The 10-game win streak is the Orioles’ longest since September of 1999.
- And the Orioles hadn’t swept three consecutive series since 2005.
While the Mariners last made the postseason in 2021, they were at least a good team as recently as last season, when they went 90-72. And maybe this is the season they finally get back to the playoffs.
Seattle is now 47-42, which has them in a three-way tie with the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox for the second and third AL Wild Card slots (the Tampa Bay Rays have a 1.5-game lead for the first Wild Card slot). FanGraphs currently gives the Mariners a 50.7% chance to make the playoffs.
The Mariners’ 10-game winning streak is tied for the second-highest in franchise history. The top mark is a 15-game streak, which Seattle achieved in that 2001 playoff season; the Mariners tied the MLB record with 116 wins that season.
Next up, the Orioles face a very difficult challenge in Tampa Bay against the Rays (48-40) for a three-game series, while the Mariners have a more winnable opportunity at the Texas Rangers (41-45).
The baseball world has had a lot to say about these winning streaks, and here’s a peek at some of the reaction on Twitter:
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.