The New York Yankees face six games against the Baltimore Orioles in September, and while Baltimore’s playoff hopes are essentially done, they’re playing spoiler ball at exactly the wrong time for New York.
The Orioles just swept the San Diego Padres on the road and they’re scoring runs in bunches. According to Orioles beat writer Tremayne Person, the Yankees should be legitimately concerned about their AL East rivals who seem to have found their groove.
Dylan Beavers is slashing .314/.426/.451 through his first 16 games, and Baltimore’s role players are clicking. That’s how spoiler teams work – they show up when you least expect it.
The timing couldn’t be worse for New York. The Toronto Blue Jays lead the division by roughly three games, while the Boston Red Sox are tied with the Yankees in the Wild Card race. Every game matters now.
The Yankees will travel to Camden Yards for three games in late September. Baltimore is just 31-37 at home, but if they keep playing like they did against San Diego, that record doesn’t tell the whole story.
Then Baltimore comes to the Bronx for the final three-game series of their season matchup.
The Yankees are much better at home (41-28) than on the road (36-34), but we’ve seen some concerning late-inning meltdowns from this team. Against a club that’s got nothing to lose and everything to prove, those lapses could be costly.
For a Yankees team that needs every win they can get, these six games against Baltimore might be trickier than they look on paper. October baseball often comes down to how you handle the teams you’re supposed to beat.
