Just how big is this Orioles-Yankees series?

There are probably a few words we could use to label the Orioles-Yankees series that begins tonight: Big, important, crucial, critical.

For the good of the collective psyche of Birdland, the Orioles probably need to take at least two of three games. At worst, they'll be seven games out by Thursday night and at best they will be one game behind New York.

While getting swept would be pretty disastrous for this Orioles team, anything other than that and they will be well within striking distance with 68 games to play at the end of the series.

Here is something pretty unusual: Both teams are currently struggling with runners in scoring position.

RISP in their last 11 games:
* Orioles batting .149 (13-for-87)
* Yankees batting .188 (15-for-80)

For the season, the Orioles are batting .288 with RISP, while New York is hitting .250.

Last year the Orioles went 13-6 against New York, its most wins in the season series since 1976. They are 5-5 this year versus New York, so that makes the Orioles 18-11 against the Yankees since the start of the 2014 season. They are also 7-1-1 in the last nine series. This year the O's have won two of three series, going 2-1 twice at home and 1-3 in a four-game series on the road.

The Orioles have hit well this year against New York scoring 54 runs in 10 games with a .295 batting average, .346 OBP, a .499 slugging percentage and team OPS of .844. The Orioles have scored 31 runs in their last five games versus the Yankees.

Against teams that they have played against at least four times this season, the Yankees worst team ERA is against the Orioles:

5.23 - Orioles
5.03 - Miami
4.33 - NY Mets

I imagine some feel the Orioles have to sweep this series, but they can still certainly win the division and make the playoffs with anything short of that. By Thursday night, there will still be a lot of baseball still to play.

Yet Birdland is probably badly in need of at least two wins in this series.

How will the Orioles do against New York?