Baltimore Orioles send message with historic rout of New York Yankees

As great as the Baltimore Orioles have been this season, they have spent much of the year in the shadow of the New York Yankees. Despite winning nearly two-thirds of their games, the Orioles have trailed the Yankees in the AL East standings for over a month now.

Baltimore entered this week’s series at Yankee Stadium with something to prove, and boy did the Orioles prove it.

Fresh off winning two of three from the team with the best record in the National League (the Philadelphia Phillies), Baltimore won two of three from the team with the best record in the American League. After splitting the series’ heated first two games with New York, the Orioles erased any doubt about which team is better in Thursday’s series finale.

Baltimore scored early and often, beating AL Cy Young candidate Luis Gil for seven runs on eight hits and knocking him out of the game in the second inning. After that, it was off to the races for the Orioles, who feasted on the Yankees bullpen en route to a 17-5 blowout. Baltimore dominated the game from start to finish, racking up 19 hits and scoring in every inning except the fourth.

It was a historic performance for the Orioles, marking their most runs against New York since 2005 and their most runs at Yankee Stadium since 2005. It also continued their incredible dominance against the AL East.

Most importantly, Baltimore sent the message that it will not be intimidated or harassed by the big bad Yankees. New York has been beating the Orioles for years, but those days are over. Baltimore’s team may be young, but it’s also fearless.

Thursday’s match was no fluke. Baltimore is now 5-2 with a plus-18 run differential against the Yankees this year, closing the gap to just half a game in the AL East while destroying its daunting schedule.

Over the past week, the Orioles have proven that they are legitimately one of the best teams in baseball. All they have to do is play like this in October.