Cheers from a boisterous crowd at Camden Yards rose to a constant roar during the ninth inning of Thursday night’s game, with Orioles fans at the liveliest the ballpark has seen in years.
“Nervous? No, no,” Shaun Collins, a Ridgely’s Delight resident, said during the final moments of the game, pausing to join other shouts from the standing area behind right field. “We’re having fun, no pressure.”
Seconds later, reliever Tyler Wells recorded the final out of , and the crowd exploded. The Orioles had clinched the American League East, winning the sport’s consistently most competitive division for the first time since 2014. Baltimore’s only other division title in the past 40 seasons came in 1997, which was also the last time the club secured the AL’s best record and thus home-field advantage leading up to the World Series.
Clinching earned the Orioles the right to begin the postseason Oct. 7 at Camden Yards against the winner of the wild-card series between the AL’s two best nondivision winners. The Orioles are lined up to have home-field advantage for the games, meaning Camden Yards will host the first two games as well as a potential fifth. Tickets for the division series are already , but fans can still
Wednesday’s game against the Washington Nationals, , had more of a subdued crowd. For the Orioles to clinch Wednesday, they needed to win (which they did) and for the second-place Tampa Bay Rays to lose (which ). Thursday night, the O’s were in better position. The Rays were off and all the Orioles needed was a win. The audience knew it.
The energy at Camden Yards started off strong, and shot up with the news of being displayed on the video board after the third inning. Fans’ cheers shook the ballpark throughout the game, echoing through the concourses after nearly every play. The Hot Dog Race sounded do-or-die.
“It was absolutely electric,” said Travis Hruz of Bel Air.
The volume shot up toward the eighth inning as the pressure of a lingering one-run lead kept excited fans anxious. The final out was followed almost immediately by a burst of fireworks and confetti that drizzled onto the crowd.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to witness something like this,” said Joseph Tempert, 25, who has been to each home game over the past two months.
The announced crowd of 27,543 lingered in celebration, exchanging hugs with strangers while the team celebrated on the field and exchanging a barrage of high-fives as they fanned out of the stadium along either direction of Eutaw Street.
“It just brought everyone together,” said Christian Beale, a Harford County resident who donned an Orioles flag above his all-orange apparel and waved a sign requesting 100 wins for his 24th birthday.
“You’re welcome,” one attendee clad in a Red Sox uniform shouted as hundreds of orange-wearing fans exited onto Camden Street.
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