Orioles clinch playoff berth for first time since 2016, then walk-off Rays, 5-4, in 11 innings – The Denver Post

The Orioles have spent much of Brandon Hyde’s tenure being looked down upon. They’ve spent almost six months craning necks upward.

Sunday, the Orioles clinched their first playoff berth since 2016, the culmination of a rebuilding process that fully launched in the winter of 2018 when Mike Elias was brought in as executive vice president and general manager and hired Hyde as manager to steward a club designed to struggle.

They inherited the worst team in the majors, an organization with bad contracts and bad infrastructure. In each of Hyde’s first three years, Baltimore finished with one of baseball’s five worst records, twice losing at least 108 games as his lineups and pitching staffs were littered with overmatched players.

The tide unexpectedly began to turn in 2022, when a…