The Orioles could be on the playoff margin all season Their first series showed how thin it is ANALYSIS

BOSTON — Back in December, when “liftoff” was still a word fans hoped would define the Orioles’ offseason, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said it would be difficult to “chart a course” for the team to be division front-runners. The goal, he said then and has since repeated, was to reach the postseason. The winter ended without Baltimore having done enough to even make that a likelihood, and thus, in an ideal scenario, the Orioles will spend this season somewhere on the margin of in and out of the postseason hunt. Their first series this weekend in…