What a difference a sweep makes, as long as you’re on the right end of it. The pendulum has swung from the Orioles getting swept by the Red Sox, extinguishing their AL East hopes and putting their wild card chances on the ropes, to the Orioles sweeping the Diamondbacks, putting them back into the driver’s seat to at least get a wild card spot.
The magic number for the Orioles to clinch a postseason appearance at all is five with six games to play. Every time the Orioles win a game, that number goes down by one. It also will go down if both the Tigers and Mariners lose.