Orioles/Yankees: It’s Go Time

The Toronto Blue Jays went on an absolute tear, and for a time, were a truly frightening team in an otherwise unspectacular AL East. With the help of the New York Yankees, they have fallen back to the pack, and the division is the dictionary definition of “up for grabs,”  as the “the best division in baseball” remains unspectacular.

The Yankees completed a three-game sweep in Toronto, and pulled themselves even in the loss column with the division leaders. The Orioles are an additional game back in the loss column. Here in June, this race is tighter than… you know what? Never mind. It’s close.

All this makes the Orioles three-game set in the Bronx crucial. Regardless of what Toronto does this weekend, the Orioles are poised to catch and pass the Yankees. Sure – it’s a tall task. The Yankees have won seven of their last ten games, and will throw super-wonder-pitcher Masahiro Tanaka on Sunday. That’s right –  Sunday, the day the Orioles do their best Bowie Baysox impression.

I’m not scared. They’ve got Tanaka. We’ve got Steve Pearce.

As we mentioned on this week’s show, the Birds are in the midst of a comparatively easy stretch of games. Even if they catch a red-hot team in the Bronx, the Orioles have every opportunity to prove their mettle and gain some ground in the AL East. Things are different this year. The eventual division winner won’t necessarily have to win 92+ games. Instead, the winner will probably be the team that stays closest to .500 and makes a modest late-season push.

That being the case, this series falls into that famous “most crucial series so far” territory we came to know and love in 2012. They’re meaningful games, even if the calendar hasn’t flipped to September, yet. At the very least, the O’s cannot fall behind. But a series win would make this division race a dead heat.

It’s go time, Orioles.