The Baltimore Orioles (82-62) will head to historic Fenway Park to take on the Boston Red Sox (72-71) for the final time this season.
The Orioles sit at 29-17 against the AL East this season heading into tonight’s game, as they battle the New York Yankees (whom they have three games left with) for the AL East title.
With 18 games remaining, the O’s magic number to secure a playoff spot is down to 10. The earliest they could clinch that spot would be Friday, but taking a huge step towards making that easier would be knocking the Red Sox off.
The Birds are 7-3 against the Red Sox this season, with the teams splitting their last series at two games a piece back in August.
The Orioles currently are in possession of the top AL Wild Card spot, a half game back from the Yankees for the division lead. The Red Sox currently are four games back from the final Wild Card spot, as they keep their slim postseason hopes alive.
In what is sure to be a playoff atmosphere, the Orioles will send rookie Cade Povich (2-7, 5.76 ERA) to the mound to open the series. Povich will be followed by Albert Suárez (7-5, 3.49 ERA) and Dean Kremer (7-9, 4.27 ERA) to round out the series.
For Boston, they will open up with Brayan Bello (12-7, 4.75 ERA) and will follow with Kutter Crawford (8-13, 4.08 ERA) and end with Nick Pivetta (5-10, 4.38 ERA).
BATTERY ❌-FACTOR
Last series, the BATTERY ❌-FACTOR was for the Birds to build some momentum to help close the season out. Unfortunately, they fell short of that, and a big reason was the inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities, a season-long issue.
Against the Tampa Bay Rays, the Orioles went a combined 1-for-16 (.063 avg) with runners in scoring position, one reason they combined to score three runs across the series.
It is for this reason, as well as a majority of the season, that the BATTERY ❌-FACTOR for this series is taking advantage of opportunities with runners in scoring position.
The Orioles need to find a way to capitalize on these moments. Whether it is sacrifice flies, bunts or opposite field hitting, the O’s need to start taking advantage of scoring opportunities if they hope to win this series and find success in the postseason. Period.
GAME 1 STARTING LINEUP
The Orioles and Red Sox will square off starting tonight at Fenway Park. Each game has a start time of 7:10 p.m. EST. You will be able to watch the games on MASN, and Tuesday’s game will also be available on TBS. You can also tune into your local Orioles Radio Network station as well.
Will the O’s dirty the Red Sox’s chances for the playoffs, or will the Sox pluck the Birds’ feathers and hinder their division title chances?
How do you see this series playing out? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter (X) and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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