Orioles Wrap Season with Contests, Events

1. After a rough road trip, the Baltimore Orioles are celebrating their fans.

The team's final homestand marks the annual Fan Appreciation Week, featuring giveaways, contests and special events.

The festivities start with tonight's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Fans will be randomly chosen throughout the game for prizes including Southwest Airlines vouchers, tickets to next year's Opening Day and a 13-game ticket plan for next season, according to a team release.

Wednesday is social media night. The team will hold a pre-game forum at the roof deck with MASN blogger Roch Kubatko, MLB.com reporter Brittany Ghiroli and Orioles Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Dan Duquette. Tickets to the event are still available online.

The game will also include online and real-worls promotions. For example, any fan who tweets their seat location and desired snack with the hashtag #BringMeFood could have said item delivered. Fans who follow clues on the team's Instagram account during the game have a shot at an autographed item, according to the release.

If you're not at the game, the team will retweet fans' play-by-play on its Twitter page.

On Thursday, the O's will give away a fan-designed T-shirt featuring a freshly-pied Orioles player to the first 10,000 fans 15 or older.

During batting practice Friday, players will toss balls into the stands and select fans will have balls awarding them the chance to watch the evenings post-game fireworks from the field.

During Saturday's game, Orioles players will be appearing throughout Camden Yards and taking on assorted ballpark jobs. Fans will be selected randomly to exchange the Orioles lineup card, borrow the public address announcer's chair for an inning, visit the broadcasters or grounds crew or watch an inning with Duquette. A random fan will throw out the first pitch.

Sunday's series finale will feature the fan's choice bobblehead voted on earlier this season: who else? Orioles home-run record holder Chris Davis, immortalized in his follow-through pose from one of his 52 (as of Tuesday afternoon) home runs this season.

The playoffs, however, are looking less and less likely for the Birds. On Monday, James Loney hit a walkoff solo shot in the bottom of the 9th to complete a come from behind, 5-4 win and a four-game sweep.

But the Orioles lost more than a series in St. Petersburg. Star third baseman Manny Machado suffered a gruesome knee injury in the seventh inning after stepping awkwardly on first base. The team has yet to report results from an MRI, but Machado is unlikely to play in the team's remaining six games, breaking a streak that goes back to his call up last August and ending a historic season. Orioles.com has a clip of the injury—warning, it is graphic.

Machado's pinch runner and defensive replacement Alexi Casilla, was injured on what would have been a game-saving catch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when his head hit right fielder Nick Markakis' leg. Casilla was removed at the end of the inning, but is not in Tuesday's lineups. He told reporters he is unsure if he will be cleared by MLB's concussion protocol before the season's end, Ghiroli reports.

Any combination of two Orioles losses or Cleveland wins would mathematically eliminate the Orioles from postseason contention.