The Baltimore Orioles are aiming for a deep playoff run in October.
The Minnesota Twins are wondering how it all went wrong in August and September.
Both teams might be distracted when they play each other Saturday in the second-to-last game of the regular season in Minneapolis. The Orioles (89-71) won the series opener 7-2 on Friday and eliminated the Twins (82-78) from playoff contention.
Baltimore secured home-field advantage in the American League wild-card round by virtue of its Friday win. The Orioles do not yet know which team they will face next week.
“To get home field through the wild card is huge,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “We’re going to be pumped to play in front of our fans. We know there’s going to be a lot of energy and excitement in the ballpark, and our guys are really looking forward to that.”
Now that the final two games of the regular season carry far fewer implications, Hyde said he was not sure which pitchers he would select to start each contest. The Orioles almost certainly will rest their top starters to line them up for the first round of the playoffs.
“We’re still determining that right now,” Hyde said when asked who would start Saturday. “The next two days, we’re up in the air right now.”
Meanwhile, plenty is up in the air as the Twins look toward a long offseason.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli must find a way to keep his players focused for the next two games before they head home. The Twins were 70-53 on Aug. 17 but have gone 12-25 since then, which allowed the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals to overtake them and clinch wild-card playoff berths.
“It was clearly beyond a disappointing way to end a run — and what was and appeared to be a promising season that we had going,” Baldelli said. “I mentioned it to the guys right now. This will bother me forever. There will be no way around that.
“But it’s not just a negative statement to make a negative statement. I will think about it a lot, and I will use it to motivate myself in a lot of different ways going forward. Because I never want to experience that again.”
In a game the Twins needed to win to preserve a slim chance at reaching the postseason, the team’s hitters managed only two hits in the first eight innings on Friday.
Baldelli said production needed to be earned, and his team could not wish offense into existence.
“We didn’t have it,” he said. “If we had it, we would have proven it when the game was going on. These sound like harsh statements, but it’s also the truth, too.”
Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews (1-3, 5.71 ERA) is slated to make the ninth and final start of his rookie campaign. He is looking for his first victory since Aug. 13, when he won his big-league debut against the Royals.
This will be Matthews’ first appearance against Baltimore.
Orioles first baseman/designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn will try to stay hot at the plate after homering while going 3-for-5 in the series opener. It was his 14th long ball, tying his career high.
“That was one of his better swings in a while,” Hyde said. “To be able to get to something down and in and hit a long one, … that was a great swing.”
