Aaron Judge was talking with Adley Rutschman at the plate during Tuesday’s game when he turned his attention to the not-too-distant future.
“We’ll probably be seeing you later down the road,” Judge told the Orioles catcher.
In case 13 regular-season games was not enough — with the Orioles holding an 8-4 edge entering Thursday’s finale — the Yankees might just end up seeing their AL East foes again in the postseason, depending on how the final days and wild-card series play out.
If the season had ended after Wednesday, the Yankees would have gotten a bye to the ALDS and faced the winner of the Orioles-Royals wild-card series.
Neither team has been particularly hot of late, but the Orioles served reminder over the first two games of this series of what they are capable of (in addition to largely having the Yankees’ number this season).
“It’s not a reminder — nobody needed to remind me or us, that’s a dangerous club,” manager Aaron Boone said.
For most of the year, the Orioles have been neck-and-neck with the Yankees atop the AL East before Boone’s club created some slight breathing room over the last few weeks.
But the Orioles entered Thursday having outscored the Yankees 61-46 and won three of four series against them.
The Orioles have been crushed by injuries to their rotation this year, with manager Brandon Hyde announcing on Wednesday that Grayson Rodriguez (who was rehabbing in an attempt to come back for the playoffs) would not pitch again in 2024.
But in a short series, they would still have Corbin Burnes and Zach Eflin to turn to along with potentially Dean Kremer, who has held the Yankees to five runs across 16 ²/₃ innings this season.
The Orioles lineup was also beat up for a stretch, but they recently got back two key bats in first baseman Ryan Mountcastle and All-Star second baseman Jordan Westburg.
And their team speed and athleticism on the bases could give the Yankees trouble.
“They’ve got a really good team and we got a couple more games ahead of us — hopefully we can face them,” Mountcastle told reporters Wednesday night. “I believe in our guys in this clubhouse and what we can do.”
