NEW YORK — This had all the lackadaisical air of a team with one foot on the putting green.

At this time next week, that’s where the Orioles will find themselves, thrust into offseason mode as other clubs harden their mettle for the postseason. The New York Yankees, who strolled to a 6-1 victory Saturday, are one of those teams preparing for something elevated — and they remain in contention for the American League East title. Baltimore will be left to watch as other clubs pursue a World Series crown.

This has been coming, of course. Realistically, when the Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde in May, this was always going to be the late-September outcome. When the Orioles traded several contributors at the MLB deadline, the ponderous march to the winter was only ensured.

So Game 161 came and went with little fire. That’s hardly a surprise, and it’s not an indictment of the culture or desire of the clubhouse. Instead, it’s an honest assessment of the mismatch at play Saturday, which featured a mediocre final start from right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano and continued with a meager offensive showing from a club for which there’s nothing left to play.

“If you look at the Yankees, they’re in the playoff run,” Sugano said through team interpreter Yuto Sakurai. “They’re a good team. If you look at our team, on the other hand, we’re not too far behind, I feel like, but yeah, obviously, it’s an unfortunate season for us.”

Apart from Coby Mayo’s solo home run in the eighth inning — which increased his September average to .314 — Baltimore didn’t produce much at the plate. The Orioles haven’t since August began. The final two months of the year have been an offensive slog, with the fewest runs scored of any MLB team over that stretch.

Some of that can be a nod to the trade-deadline sell-off, which sent Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano to the San Diego Padres, among other moves. Those were two of the Orioles’ top hitters at the time. What has come since is underperformance from veterans and rookies alike.

Entering Saturday, Baltimore’s .217 average since Aug. 1 ranked 29th of 30. The Orioles had scored the fewest runs in that time and had the worst line-drive rate (17.1%) in the majors. Their OPS of .655 was ahead of only the Cleveland Guardians.

“We need to get that fixed. So not acceptable by any means,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “Priority No. 1 here this winter is grabbing that group of young hitters and getting them back on track.”

Early-career struggles are a natural part of transitioning to the majors for many Orioles prospects, so the .165 average from catcher Samuel Basallo isn’t a large concern at this stage. Mayo, for example, struggled through multiple months in MLB before breaking out in September, with five of his 11 homers coming this month.

Some of the largest strides from Mayo have come on defense at first base. But, for him to be an integral piece of the lineup next season, he’ll need to look more like this current version of himself, with hard contact in the air a more frequent practice.

That solo homer for Mayo came late, however, with the Orioles already out of it. Sugano allowed three solo homers — to Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Ryan McMahon — to increase his American League-leading count to 33 against him.

“You give up that many home runs, it’s not gonna be a big positive,” Mansolino said. “And I think going forward, if he’s gonna be in the league, kind of cutting that number down a little bit will help him immensely.”

Sugano finished his first (and potentially only) season in the majors with a 4.64 ERA in 157 innings.

The beginning was better than his ending. Sugano held a 3.04 ERA after his start June 3. After that, he wavered far too frequently and home runs proved to be a constant issue.

“The first third of the season, I felt like everything went too well, and the middle part of the season there was like a wall where I hit,” Sugano said. “Overall, I got to experience a lot of things,” and Sugano reiterated his desire to remain in the majors next season.

In all, the Orioles seemed to shuffle through the penultimate game of the season. There’s only one more, now, before the winter comes for all involved.

News and notes

• Mansolino said it’s possible right-hander Dean Kremer will pitch out of the bullpen Sunday. Kremer, who is 2 1/3 innings away from matching his career high, will be on regular rest. The short starts from Trevor Rogers and Sugano on Friday and Saturday make Kremer’s potentially availability helpful.
• The Orioles placed left-hander Dietrich Enns on the paternity list Saturday and brought up southpaw Grant Wolfram. Additionally, with left-hander Cade Povich’s final start of the season already concluded, Baltimore added to its bullpen by optioning Povich for right-hander Carson Ragsdale.
• Right-hander Dom Hamel was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers. Hamel never pitched for Baltimore. He was claimed and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk last week before he was designated for assignment this week.

This article has been updated.