A September to remember makes October baseball possible for the Orioles

Sept. 30, 2012

Less than two hours before a September to remember for Orioles fans came to a close, the team clinched its first playoff berth since 1997 when the Angels lost to the Rangers. Take a moment to let that sink in if it hasn't already: the Baltimore Orioles are in the playoffs. 

While the postseason is something new - at least in recent history - for Baltimore, September success is not. The O's have made the most of all of their Septembers under Buck Showalter. 

Showalter took the helm for the Orioles on Aug. 3, 2010. The team was 32-73 at the time. Nevertheless, the O's posted a 14-12 mark that September, their second-best monthly mark of the 2010 season after the new skipper helped push the team to an unlikely 17-11 August mark. 

For the past two years, the O's have posted their best monthly records in September. Far from the swooning they did in seasons past, the Orioles are now heating up in the season's latest regular season month. 

Last year, the O's went 15-13 in September, which was their only winning month of 2011. This year, they went 19-9, a record that was one win better than the 18-9 record they had in August. Many O's fans must have felt like they were being pinched at the end of July as the team finished the month 13-14, their only losing month, and made it appear that perhaps the dream was over. Instead, the O's posted .667 winning percentages in consecutive months and now have fans dreaming even bigger dreams. 

Following the Orioles' final regular season home game of 2012 on Sunday, no one - save those Red Sox fans who found themselves thoroughly outnumbered for the first time in years - wanted to leave the stadium. That included the players who, following their sweep of the Red Sox, opted to stay on the diamond and watch the conclusion of the first game of the Angels-Rangers doubleheader. Neither the fans nor the players were ready for September to end just yet. But now comes the fun part: October baseball.

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