Orioles beat Texas in Wild Card, Yankees up next

Oct. 6, 2012

The Orioles finally got a chance to celebrate together Friday in a baseball setting rather than having to do so on an airplane. Here's hoping there are more celebrations like that one to come.

Check out Britt Ghiroli's blog for some great photos from the locker room celebration, and be sure to also read her game article, which as usual is well written.

The scent of champagne wafted through the tunnels, up through the visiting clubhouse doors and into a saran-wrapped scene of childlike glee. There were bottles flying up in the air until the bubbly ran dry, replaced with domestic and imported beer in a celebration where even the ice buckets weren't safe. It was the sweet smell of playoff victory, a scent that never gets old, particularly when it's been 15 years in the making.

The Orioles -- without a proper celebration of the organization's first postseason berth since 1997 because of plane troubles and an Angels' comeback -- finally got to party on Friday night after moving on to the American League Division Series with a 5-1 Wild Card win over the Texas Rangers.

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