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Hours after a Sunday victory all but clinched their first playoff berth in fifteen years, the Baltimore Orioles experienced a very scary moment on their way to St. Petersburg, Florida. A small fire in the forward galley of the plane forced the team charter to divert course and make an emergency landing in Jacksonville, reports Roch Kubatko of MASN:
#orioles charter had "small" fire aboard and had to make emergency landing. Players currently at Jacksonville airport while plane inspected
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) October 1, 2012
The plane was directed into a free fall for several minutes in order to land as quickly as possible, according to USA Today. After an hour on the ground in Jacksonville to have the plane inspected, the team took off again and safely arrived in St. Petersberg shortly thereafter.
News of the Orioles' guaranteed place in the postseason, set about by an Angels loss in Arlington, came mid-way through the second leg of their flight.