Orioles have an opportunity to turn their season around against struggling Yankees

Last weekend, the Baltimore Orioles went up to New York and got dominated by the Yankees in a four-game series. It was such a bad defeat that both the Orioles' win-loss record and run differential are going to need weeks to recover from the damage that was done in that series. The Yankees deserve credit for what they did to the Orioles in that series, as they showed they were the better team by a lot, but the Orioles did go into that series with several disadvantages that put them in a bad spot going against their division rivals, and this time around, it's the Yankees who are dealing with some adversity.

The Orioles stumbled into their series against the Yankees and they took full advantage

Last time the Orioles faced the Yankees, they had just played a doubleheader the day before, which featured their game two starter getting blasted out of the game after four innings and forcing them to empty their bullpen. Between the two games, the Orioles had to use eight relievers. That's the whole pen. So the Orioles went into their series against the Yankees with their entire bullpen having just thrown the day before. That's not ideal, and as the series went on, the bullpen faltered.

This time around, the Orioles' pen is in a much better spot. In their series against the Athletics, the Orioles starters averaged more than six innings per start. This is as rested as the Orioles' pen has been since the start of the season.

Another disadvantage that the Orioles were dealing with in their previous series was that they had just recently placed their best starter, Trevor Rogers, on the IL with the flu. So instead of having to face Rogers, the Yankees got to face Cade Povich. An opportunity they took advantage of.

Trevor Rogers should be the game two starter for this series, and even if he's not sub-2 ERA Rogers like he was last year, he'll be a marked improvement over what his replacements were able to do against the Yankees.

The Orioles can't afford to lose this series to a scuffling Yankees squad

For the Yankees' part, they're coming off getting swept by the Brewers, and in their final game on Sunday, their starter was the one who couldn't finish the fifth inning, forcing the Yankees to use five relievers. In the game before, even though their starter went deep, they ended up using five relievers as well. Closer David Bednar and setup man Fernando Cruz have both gone two days in a row. If the Orioles can get today's starter, Ryan Weathers, out of the game early, they'll get to face the Yankees' worst relievers in their pen and set them up to be in scramble mode for the rest of the series.

Injury-wise, Ben Rice isn't on the IL like Rogers was, but since his hand injury, he has not looked like himself, going 0-13 against the Brewers over the course of the sweep. The Orioles need to be able to take advantage of one of the best hitters in baseball slumping and try not to be the cure that gets him right.

With the advantages that have tilted the Orioles' way this week, they need to win this series. If the Yankees come in with a tired bullpen and a slumping lineup and dominate the Orioles again, it's going to be hard to find a reason to be optimistic about this team.

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