Playoff baseball won't further disrupt the Baltimore Running Festival, after all.
Organizers announced a contingency plan last week in case the American League Championship Series returned to Camden Yards on Saturday.
But the Orioles' 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday ensured Baltimore marathon participants would finish their race with the downhill jaunt down Eutaw Street and through Camden Yards that veteran runners are accustomed to.
If the best-of-seven ALCS lasted seven games, runners on Saturday would have been routed down an access road rather than Eutaw Street. Had the series gone at least six games, changes would have been made to the running festival's fitness expo on Friday.
The threat of the series returning to Baltimore this weekend had already altered start times for the festival's races. Organizers announced last week that each festival race would begin an hour earlier than originally scheduled.
The Orioles' loss won't change that; start times, beginning with the marathon, will be staggered between 7 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. on Saturday.
About 27,000 people participated in the running festival last year.