The Thursday afternoon Orioles game thread: at Royals, 2:10

It's been a horror show of a week for the Orioles and it's not over yet. While they enter today's game with a chance to salvage a series split against the Royals, they also enter it with a chance to walk away losers of seven of their last eight games. That would be terrible! Not that being losers in six of their last eight games would really be much better, come to think of it.

What's standing between them and the worst possible outcome? You're probably not heartened to learn that the Orioles' primary bulwark on this particular day is Chris Tillman - and the hitters will have to overcome the fireballer Yordano Ventura. Of course it can be done. We have seen the Orioles have good games against good pitchers - we saw it just yesterday, in fact. We have seen Tillman have great games against great offenses.

But will these things happen TODAY? That's the real question, one which we cannot answer until it answers itself. It could be great or it could be terrible, which is true each and every day.

Two of the Orioles wild card rivals are in action this afternoon. The Angels play the Tigers, while the Rangers host the Blue Jays. Later in the evening, the Twins play against the Rays. At this moment in time for the sake of standings, we want the Angels, Rangers, and Twins all to lose. If the Orioles win and the Twins lose, the Orioles are guaranteed to creep closer to a wild card spot.