Friday night Orioles game thread: at Yankees, 7:05

The Orioles season is almost over. So is everyone else’s, of course, but I don’t care about them. Back in the summer, it seemed like the O’s might at least have an outside chance at playing spoiler in September.

As it turns out, they cannot do so. The Red Sox have already clinched the AL East, so there’s nothing that the O’s can do to affect that race. The Yankees and Athletics are basically already ticketed for wild card spots. The Yankees lead the Athletics by 2.5 games for the home spot, and hold the tiebreaker over the A’s there, so I guess there is an outside chance, if the Orioles sweep the Yankees and the Athletics sweep the Twins, for things to shift there.

Let’s get real, though. The Orioles aren’t sweeping the Yankees in the Bronx in late September. It’s not happening, not with this squad of sad sacks. We are intimately familiar with the many problems that the Orioles face this season. They have not overcome them at any point for any last gasp of competence. They are not capable of doing this. They are just a bad baseball team that I will be glad when I don’t have to see again. Here’s hoping next year is less miserable to watch.

It’s Yefry Ramirez facing his former organization tonight. This is the lineup that will be attempting to support him both at the plate and in the field:

1. Cedric Mullins - CF
2. Joey Rickard - LF
3. Jonathan Villar - 2B
4. Adam Jones - RF
5. Trey Mancini - DH
6. Chris Davis - 1B
7. Tim Beckham - SS
8. Renato Núñez - 3B
9. Austin Wynns - C