The Orioles and Rays are playing the first of four head-to-head exhibition games this spring, or the first of 29 hypothetically possible games between the two division rivals this season. Of course, the Orioles would have to reach the American League Championship Series and take it to the seven-game limit, but it is mathematically within the realm of possibility.
In all, the Orioles will play a total of 87 games against the AL East -- including spring training -- and that number would rise to 94 with a hypothetical seven-game ALCS against a division rival. No, I'm not saying that has any real chance of happening, but it illustrates just how familiar they will get with the rest of the division now that they play their exhibition games on the gulf coast.
Is that a good thing? I talked to Rays manager Joe Maddon and he isn't all that keen on it. The number of intradivisional games, combined with the amazing information technology explosion, creates a baseball world where everyone knows everything about everybody.
"That's why it comes down to execution,'' Maddon said. "That's why I want us to work so hard on execution, so even if they know what we're going to do, we can still execute it."