Tonight sees the Atlanta Braves travel to Camden Yards in Baltimore for the first of three games.
Coming into this season, a lot of Braves fans likely saw this series against the Orioles as an easy way to pick up a few wins late in the season. While the Braves have performed about like everyone expected (record-wise, anyway), the Orioles have outpaced expectations and are currently 20-26. This may not seem like a staunch opponent, but considering they are riding a five game losing streak that has pulled their record down from the near-.500 it was last week, this is an admirable performance by a team that selected second in the MLB Draft this past June.
Both of tonight’s starters have had some rough luck this season. Touki Toussaint brings his 7.89 ERA | 6.12 FIP to the mound, while Orioles starter Jorge Lopez’s 6.38 ERA | 4.50 FIP looks elite by comparison. Both pitchers will need to focus on keeping the ball in the yard - in no small part to Camden Yards being a band box, but for Toussaint in particular because giving up home runs appears to be a newfound infatuation for this season.
This is the regular season’s penultimate Monday night game, and we know you want to spend it with us. So, put on your best tuxedo and plan to treat the comments section like a black tie gala. You can be all types of witty and snarky and informative.
We have also prepared these (hopefully) award-winning preparatory documents for you in advance of the baseball match: