Five things you need to know for Orioles-Yankees

The penultimate Bases Covered Live clash of the 2025 regular season is a real doozie: a heated division rivalry between two famous franchises, with postseason ramifications on the line. Here are five things you need to know before the Yankees take on the Orioles in the Bronx this Sunday.

1. As we already mentioned, this matchup has been heated over the years. Both founding members of the American League East, the Yankees and Orioles have been facing off for decades, and they don’t like each other very much. In the 50-plus years of sharing a division, these two have played over 2000 games; the Yankees boast 1362 wins, whilst the Orioles have 926 at time of writing.

2. In Aaron Judge, the Yankees have more than just a generational talent; they’ve got an all-time great. The two-time MVP Award winner is gunning for a third this season, currently in the midst of a razor-tight battle with the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh for the honor. But Judge -- the Yankees’ captain, who recently passed Joe DiMaggio to reach fourth on the team’s all-time home run leaderboard -- would surely swap it all for that one elusive World Series title.

3. For the Orioles, keep an eye out for superstar shortstop Gunnar Henderson. The former Rookie of the Year was fourth in MVP voting last year when Judge scooped the award, and has put together another solid campaign this time around. Whilst it’s been a somewhat disappointing season for the Orioles given their postseason pedigree in recent years, their team remains replete with young talent for years to come.

4. Although the Orioles won’t be making it a third postseason appearance in a row, the Yankees are still in place to defend their American League pennant from last year. Catching the red-hot Blue Jays for the division title may well be a bridge too far, but the Bronx Bombers look set to secure a Wild Card route into the postseason this time around. A win on Sunday would go a long way to helping them do just that.

5. Back to Aaron Judge to finish, and a word on his journey up the Yankees’ home run leaderboard. As we’ve already mentioned, he’s now up to fourth all-time after passing DiMaggio’s mark of 361 last week, but he’s still got a ways to go if he’s to break the Yankees' team record. Ahead of him stand three pinstriped titans: Lou Gehrig (third with 493), Mickey Mantle (second with 536) and number one is -- you guessed it -- Babe Ruth with 659. So yeah, he’s a little way off right now, but with another 50-home run season looking inevitable this year (the fourth of his big league career), who knows what he’s capable of?