After a grueling 11-day, 10-game road trip, the Orioles finally return to Camden Yards for the first time since Aug. 6. And this time, they\u2019re coming in with some swagger.<\/p>\n
The Orioles just went toe-to-toe with the best team in the American League, taking three out of four from the Rays in a hard-fought series that had a postseason feel. So now, facing the second-best team in the AL, the Yankees, doesn\u2019t seem like such an intimidating challenge for the O\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The Yanks are comfortably headed to the postseason, currently 8.5 games ahead for the first AL wild card spot, but they\u2019re a team with some flaws, particularly since Aaron Judge went down with a fractured rib at the end of May. The Yankees have essentially been a .500 team (33-32) during Judge\u2019s absence after going 36-23 before his injury. Judge just started playing catch last week and isn\u2019t particularly close to a return. Also on the shelf is Cody Bellinger with a left hamstring strain. He\u2019ll start a rehab assignment this week but won\u2019t appear in this series.<\/p>\n
The Yankees have an offense that is extremely reliant on the long ball. They can\u2019t hit for average (an AL-worst .229) and can\u2019t get on base (.308 OBP, second-worst) but they sure can hit some dingers, even without Judge. The Yankees\u2019 171 homers are second-most in the majors, and they\u2019ve got nine players in double digits, led by All-Star Ben Rice\u2019s 33 blasts. Keeping the Yankees in the ballpark will be the key for O\u2019s pitchers to neutralize their offense.<\/p>\n
The Yanks\u2019 attempts to bolster their lineup at the trade deadline haven\u2019t panned out as yet. Luis Garcia Jr., acquired from the Nationals, has a .664 OPS in 11 games. Former Giants outfielder Heliot Ramos has been terrible, going just 3-for-36 as a Yankee so far. But one new face has been a big hit: #1 prospect George Lombard Jr., called up on Aug. 4, has stabilized the shortstop position after replacing the struggling Anthony Volpe.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s made the Yankees successful is their stellar pitching staff, which has a 3.26 ERA that leads the majors by a wide margin. Second-year righty Cam Schlittler is an AL Cy Young favorite who currently leads the league in ERA (2.19), IP (152.0), and WAR (5.1) and is rocking an 11.2 K\/9 rate. Fortunately, the Orioles won\u2019t face him in this series. The bullpen has also been stout, with journeymen Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn emerging as top late-inning options ahead of quality closer David Bednar, who is 27-for-30 in save opportunities.<\/p>\n
The Yankees are a good team. But the Orioles proved in Tampa that they\u2019re capable of shifting their game into another gear against even the best opponents. If the O\u2019s can bring that momentum back home to Baltimore, this could be a heck of a series. But if the Birds revert to their old ways, well, things could get ugly fast.<\/p>\n
Game 1: Tuesday, 6:35 PM, MASN<\/p>\n
LHP Carlos Rod\u00f3n (4-2, 3.30) vs. RHP Shane Baz (4-12, 4.00)<\/p>\n
Rod\u00f3n, fresh off the IL after a bout of elbow inflammation, will be making his first start since June 28. That was after he\u2019d already missed all of April while recovering from offseason elbow surgery. In his nine starts between his injuries, Rod\u00f3n struggled with his control, issuing 26 walks in 46.1 innings. He could be on a pitch count limit in this game. Gunnar Henderson, who\u2019s been swinging the bat much better of late, has had some success in his career against Rod\u00f3n, homering twice. Pete Alonso, Tyler O\u2019Neill, and Carlos Narv\u00e1ez have each homered once.<\/p>\n
Shane Baz, despite pitching decently overall, has been something of a bad-luck charm for the Orioles. The O\u2019s have a 6-18 record in his starts and have lost nine of the last 10, and Baz himself doesn\u2019t have a win since June 12. In many cases that\u2019s been due to a criminal lack of run support from the O\u2019s offense; Baz has thrown six quality starts in that span without a victory to show for it. In his most recent start, though, Baz only had himself to blame, coughing up a 4-1 lead in Minnesota and exiting after a season-low three innings. Baz\u2019s previous start against the Yankees this year was one of his worst; he surrendered six runs in 5.2 innings on May 4 in the finale of the Yanks\u2019 four-game sweep in the Bronx.<\/p>\n
Game 2: Wednesday, 6:35 PM, MASN, MLB Network (out of market)<\/p>\n
TBD vs. RHP Chris Bassitt (4-4, 5.11)<\/p>\n
Bassitt\u2019s return to the Orioles last Friday, after more than two months on the IL, went pretty well. He held the Rays in check for two runs in 5.1 innings. The trade of Dean Kremer gives Bassitt plenty of leeway to hold onto the fifth starter\u2019s spot for a while, even if his overall 2026 performance has been less than impressive. The 37-year-old is very familiar with some of the veterans in the Yankee lineup. He\u2019s been particularly successful in his career against Jazz Chisholm Jr. (3-for-17 with seven strikeouts) and Austin Wells (3-for-13). He\u2019s also held Trent Grisham to a 3-for-19 performance, though two of the hits were homers.<\/p>\n
The Orioles were originally scheduled to face Max Fried in this game, but the Yankees placed him on the 15-day injured list yesterday with a bone bruise in his elbow. It\u2019s the same injury that Fried suffered in a game against the Orioles in May, sidelining him for two months. The Yanks have yet to announce a replacement starter, but it could be righty Will Warren, who would be working on six days\u2019 rest.<\/p>\n
Game 3: Thursday, 6:35 PM, MASN<\/p>\n
RHP Gerrit Cole (6-6, 3.22) vs. RHP Kyle Bradish (7-11, 3.65)<\/p>\n
For the first time in two years, the Orioles will have to deal with Gerrit Cole, who owns a career 7-3 record and 2.39 ERA against the Birds. Of course, only two players remain from the last O\u2019s starting lineup that faced Cole in September 2024 (Henderson and Colton Cowser), so this will be a bit of a different look for him.<\/p>\n
Cole, after undergoing Tommy John (R.I.P.) surgery and missing the entire 2025 season, has returned to his ace-like self since debuting on May 22 this year. He hasn\u2019t allowed more than three runs in any of his last eight outings, throwing six quality starts in that span. His underlying stats \u2014 a 1.085 WHIP and 9.6 K\/9, among others \u2014 are about on par with what they were in 2024, which aren\u2019t quite at the standard of his Cy Young 2023 season but still make him a pretty tough customer.<\/p>\n
Bradish, in five appearances since signing his five-year, $90 million extension, has had three quality starts, including a gutty effort against the Rays on Saturday in which he battled for six innings despite not having his best stuff. He\u2019s made two starts against the Yankees this year with wildly different results. On May 2 they torched him for five runs in four innings at Yankee Stadium, including a Grisham homer. But Bradish came back two starts later in Baltimore and dominated the Yanks for six shutout innings.<\/p>\n
How do you expect this series to play out, Camden Chatters? Let us know in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a grueling 11-day, 10-game road trip, the Orioles finally return to Camden Yards for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,76458,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":["post-782033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore-orioles-game-information","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117117042243784911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}