Orioles' playoff hopes slipping away after 8-1 loss to Blue Jays

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Sep 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

TORONTO — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stood at home plate and admired his big fly like it was a walk-off home run.

After the ball landed in the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen, Guerrero enjoyed his jog around the bases. The loud crowd made Rogers Centre shake, giving their superstar a standing ovation. The fans demanded more. Once Guerrero reached the dugout, they chanted his name for a curtain call, and he obliged, stepping out of the dugout and throwing his arms in the sky.

The long ball was only a solo shot in the fifth inning of a regular season game. But for Guerrero, the hero of the Blue Jays’ postseason last year, it was cathartic amid what’s been a disastrous season. The home run was his first in Toronto all season — a nearly unbelievable fact given Guerrero’s status as one of the sport’s top sluggers. For the Blue Jays, that moment and the 8-1 win that followed keep the reigning American League champions in contention for the AL’s last wild-card spot.

And then there was the Orioles, the footnote in all of this. Guerrero’s home run served the opposite purpose for Baltimore. It essentially ended their season.

After taking the first game of the series Friday, the Orioles lost the final two, falling further back in the AL wild-card race. Baltimore (72-78) is temporarily 3 1/2 games back of the Cleveland Guardians for the AL’s final wild-card spot, with the Blue Jays and Texas Rangers between them.

The Orioles have only 12 games remaining, and they’ll have to win almost all of them to earn the right to play in October. FanGraphs puts the odds of that happening at below 3%.

The first inning was emblematic of the entire afternoon for the Orioles’ offense — and a common theme in many of their losses this season. Blue Jays ace Dylan Cease, a contender for the AL Cy Young Award, allowed the first three batters to reach base on a Pete Alonso single and walks to Dylan Beavers and Gunnar Henderson. Cease then went down 3-0 against Coby Mayo, and the Orioles still couldn’t score, as Mayo, Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all struck out to leave all three ducks on the pond.

That was far from the first time Baltimore’s bats couldn’t come through with runners in scoring position. Basallo popped out in the third inning with runners on first and second. In the fifth inning, after Alonso’s RBI single tied the game at 1 and Henderson walked, the same trio that couldn’t come through in the first inning failed to do so again, as Mayo struck out, Basallo grounded out and Encarnacion-Strand lined out. An inning later, with two runners on base and Cease out of the game, Alonso struck out looking on a curveball from reliever Braydon Fisher.

In total, Baltimore went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base.

Orioles starting pitcher Trevor Rogers was solid through his first four frames, allowing only an RBI double to Andrés Giménez in the second inning. But the Blue Jays hit back-to-back-to-back solo homers in the fifth — George Springer then Guerrero then Kazuma Okamoto. The three long balls traveled a combined 1,135 feet.

The Orioles’ bullpen and defense then unraveled in the eighth to make the game a laugher. Yaramil Hiraldo, who was recalled Sunday to replace the injured Kyle Bradish, walked three batters and allowed four runs in the frame. Three of those runs scored on a Springer double allowed by Cam Sanders on a ball that bounced past left fielder Dylan Beavers.

Baltimore will head to New York to face the Mets beginning Monday in Pete Alonso’s return to Citi Field.

____