BALTIMORE — You can feel it around Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Monday. There is a definite buzz before a massive regular season series between the two best teams in the American League.
The Orioles take on the Rays for the first time this season. Tampa leads all of Major League Baseball with a 28-7 record. The O’s are 5.5 games behind.
It’s the three-game set fans have been waiting for, a heavyweight fight with high stakes between the two teams considered the class of Major League Baseball through the first five-plus weeks of the season.
"We’re excited. This is the best team in baseball right now and we’re excited to see how we stack up against them," said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle. "Any in-division games are always going to be huge. So, we’re going to come out, compete and hopefully get some wins here."
"This team is playing really good baseball right now but so are we. We have a lot of faith in ourselves. So, we’re going to go out there and try to win the first game of the series tonight and that’s just where we’re at. We’re going to prepare for that and try to dominate game one," added left fielder Austin Hays.
"We know them pretty well and they know us," said manager Brandon Hyde. "They are obviously off to an unbelievable start and it’s a really, really good team and we just faced a really good team in Atlanta. I like the way we are playing right now and hopefully we play well this series."
The Orioles are coming off a series against the best team in the National League, dropping two of three in Atlanta. Both losses were by one run.
On the hill Monday for the O’s is starter Kyle Gibson. He is 4-1 this season. The Rays counter with Baltimore native Shane McLanahan. He is an MLB best 6-0. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m.
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