American League East division foes will face off tonight in the first game of the ALDS, with the wild card Baltimore Orioles hosting the division champion New York Yankees beginning at 6:07 p.m. ET. The Orioles earned this Wild Card spot after defeating the Texas Rangers, 5-1, Friday night in Arlington.
During the regular season, Baltimore and New York met 18 times, splitting their victories evenly. Over these regular season games, the Orioles took a slight scoring edge over the Yankees at 92-90. Simply put, these teams' performances this season, both against each other and against the rest of Major League Baseball, were fairly even, with Baltimore finishing just two games back of New York.
Taking the mound for Baltimore tonight will be Jason Hammel, who was 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA during the O's regular season. His opponent will be Yankees ace and former Cy Young winner CC Sabathia, who was 15-6 with a 3.38 ERA during the regular season. Sabathia finished the season ranked in the top 10 in wins, ERA and strikeouts in the American League.
The game will be broadcast nationally on TBS.