On Tuesday night, the Baltimore Orioles are going to be partying like it’s 1997.
With an 8-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, Buck Showalter‘s squad captured its ninth victory in 10 games and moved 13.5 games in front of Toronto in the AL East, effectively locking up the division.
The team’s Twitter feed celebrated:
Here’s a look at the final out and ensuing moments of ecstasy in Baltimore:
As ESPN Stats & Info noted, this is the first time the O’s have won the East since the days of Cal Ripken Jr., Roberto Alomar, Brady Anderson and Mike Mussina, nearly two decades ago:
According to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, Orioles Executive VP of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette went a little further back:
Both the O’s players and the Baltimore faithful have reason to celebrate, and it appears they plan on doing just that.
Comcast SportsNet’s Daniel Martin provided a glimpse of the scene from Camden Yards, while CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora noted the fireworks weren’t just limited to the ballpark:
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley noticed a nice touch from Showalter, who won previous division titles with both the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks:
The Baltimore Sun‘s Dan Connolly caught a picture of Nick Markakis, who didn’t seem to mind that there was pie in his face:
Unsurprisingly, the champagne was on ice and ready to flow once the players returned to the locker room.
The team’s Twitter feed and Connolly offered a look at some of the partying in the locker room as well as back on the field, where the team returned to celebrate with the fans:
Of course, while Tuesday night—and Wednesday morning—will be a time for celebration, the O’s still have a much bigger goal: making a deep run in October.
Though they haven’t been in such a position in a while—their 2012 wild-card berth marked their only postseason appearance since ’97—they are certainly built for such a run.
Despite losing Matt Wieters and Manny Machado to injury and watching Chris Davis struggle with a serious regression, they are fifth in the majors in OPS. Although they don’t have any superstars on the pitching staff, they are also seventh in ERA.
Don’t let the lack of recent success fool you. This team is a legitimate contender to win the World Series.
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com