Orioles' ouster extends AL East's surprising postseason losing streak

The AL East is perennially one of the best divisions in baseball. That was no different in the 2023 regular season.

The Orioles took the AL East with a league-best 101 wins. The Rays were not far behind with the second-most wins (99) in the AL while grabbing the top Wild Card spot. Toronto, meanwhile, took the third Wild Card spot with 89 wins. Collectively, the AL East won 449 regular-season games -- good for an average of nearly 90 wins per team -- which was by far the most of any division, ahead of the NL East (424 wins).

That same regular-season dominance, however, did not carry over to the postseason. Following the Rangers’ ALDS sweep over the Orioles, the AL East ended up going a combined 0-7 in the '23 playoffs. The Orioles’ series loss followed the Rays (against the Rangers) and Blue Jays (against the Twins) being swept in two games in the Wild Card round. It represented the first time since 1990 -- when the A’s swept the Red Sox -- that the AL East was swept in a postseason.

If you extend it back to last year’s postseason -- when the Yankees were swept by the Astros in four games in the '22 ALCS -- the AL East has lost 11 straight games. For a division that is seemingly always well-represented deep into October, this development comes as a bit of a shock. An AL East team will not be playing in the Championship Series for the first time since 2011 when the Rangers were last in the ALCS against the Tigers.

Additionally, with the Twins ending their 18-game playoff losing streak, three AL East teams now hold the longest active playoff losing streaks. After being swept by the Rangers, the Orioles’ eight straight playoff losses make it the longest active losing streak in the Majors. Just behind them are the Rays (seven straight losses) and the Blue Jays (seven straight).