It's official. The Orioles will play in the postseason. The team sealed that on Tuesday night with the combination of its own victory over the Yankees (5-3) and the Twins' 4-1 loss to the Marlins in Miami. There's no way they can overtake the Orioles in the standings, and that means the O's are in the running.

The Orioles' decision to claim the top wild card spot in the American League is still on hold. The magic number to do that dropped to 2 after Tuesday's win. That's a combination of Orioles wins and Tigers losses. Detroit beat the Rays on Tuesday. The O's are still favorites, holding a four-game lead with five games left, but since the Tigers had their last series against the White Sox and played so well, it seems more than unlikely that they will be leading the standings.

It hasn't been pretty at times, as the Orioles have struggled forward not just in September, but in August and July as well to get to this point. The team has had its share of problems, especially on offense as the absences of Jordan Westburg, Ryan Mountcastle and Ramón Urías have piled up. They've blown games they probably should have won.

Those things have put the team on the brink of elimination in repeating for the AL East title, though they managed to avert that with their win on Tuesday. Any loss the Orioles suffer against the Yankees this week ends that. The O's need to lead the standings while the Yankees lose the rest of the way. It's possible until it's not possible.

While it's a bit disappointing to reach this milestone at this point in the season given their good performances through the end of May, it's still a fun experience. This is the first time since the 1996 and 1997 seasons that the Orioles have been in the postseason two years in a row. The 2012, 2014 and 2016 O's never managed to do it two years in a row. The 1998-2011 Orioles never managed it at all.

Getting it done is worth celebrating. Earning home-field advantage in the wild-card round is worth celebrating again. Then we can all just hold our breath and hope the Orioles can take advantage of this opportunity and win a postseason game for the first time in a decade.