The Orioles Bill Mazeroski Jersey , at 7-10, are better than expected so far. The Rays, at 12-4, have the best record in MLB. one team in the American League East with a record of .500 or better. That’s the Tampa Bay Rays, who at 12-4 stand atop the entire MLB for their performance so far. Almost as surprising, the closest team chasing them, at 5.5 games back, is the Orioles, who lead the 6-9 Yankees by percentage points.With only about 10% of the season having been played so far, it’s early to proclaim anyone an unstoppable juggernaut. What can be said for certain is that the Rays have played very well so far. They’ve allowed the fewest runs of any MLB team so far, with just 40 men crossing the plate against the Rays.When you look at their statistics so far, it’s not a shock how they’ve managed to do this. There are three starting pitchers with an ERA of 2.18 or better and three relievers who have pitched in at least eight games each who have an ERA of 0.00. Their staff as a whole has struck out 169 pitchers in 144 innings while issuing just 40 walks. They have only allowed 12 home runs so far this season.The Rays offense has not been slouching either. Their hitters are batting a combined .265/.341/.435 with stellar production from six of the nine regular players in their lineup. That’s added up to 78 runs scored, third-most in the AL entering Monday’s play, and an MLB-best +38 run differential. If the Rays keep playing like this while the New York/Boston axis stumbles, they will run away with the division.Can the Orioles arrest the Rays momentum at all in this series? The team has been playing better on the road so far, with a 6-4 mark away from Baltimore and a 1-6 record at home. It’s too early to mean anything. Still, there’s enough to make you wonder if things are going to be a little better than last year. The O’s are 2-0-1 through their first three road series. In 2018, the team went 3-21-2 in road series.Game 1 - Tuesday, 7:10pmStarting pitchersDylan Bundy: 3 GS, 12.1 IP, 8.76 ERA, 8.66 FIP Dave Parker Jersey , 1.784 WHIP, 17 SO, 7 BBTyler Glasnow: 3 GS, 17 IP, 0.53 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 0.824 WHIP, 21 SO, 3 BBIn a giddy mood after the Orioles beat the Red Sox yesterday, that eternal optimist Rick Dempsey said on MASN’s post-game show, “If we can get Bundy back on track, we’ve got a legitimate chance to win almost every game.” The one thing no one can disagree with in that statement is that Bundy is not currently on track - or at least not on a good track.Bundy is walking too many people, giving up too many home runs again, and not lasting very long into games due to elevated pitch counts. He is not getting out lefties or righties. It’s bad. Maybe the new Mike Elias-era analytics program will take for him, but it hasn’t happened yet. There is not likely to be any relief for him in facing a Rays lineup that’s been great so far.Glasnow will be looking to stay in an MLB rotation for a full season for the first time in his career. The 25-year-old righty came to the Rays last July in the Chris Archer trade. The numbers through three starts are nothing short of dazzling. Maybe that’s because he’s amazing now. Maybe it’s because one of his starts was against the White Sox and another was against the Giants. The O’s offense is probably closer to those bottom-feeders than the top of the class.Game 2 - Wednesday, 7:10Starting pitchersDavid Hess: 4 G, 3 GS, 19 IP, 3.32 ERA, 5.10 FIP, 0.895 WHIP, 15 SO, 5 BBTBD Josh Harrison Jersey , possibly the opener game (last used Friday)There’s something to be said for first impressions, and in David Hess’s first start of the year, he no-hit the Blue Jays for 6.1 innings before being pulled from the game. Even if his numbers start to turn worse, fans can remember him for that and be happy.Hess has probably been lucky up to this point in the season. Batters have put the ball on the ground just 23.1% of the time. That many fly balls leave a pitcher homer-prone, and indeed, he’s given up four so far. The overall average on balls in play (BABIP) is .167, which is likely to end up stabilizing about 100 points higher than it is now. Worse luck is coming for him. Hopefully this series doesn’t mark the start of the bad luck.may still be bad, but it feels different and better so far, even when they lose. Their outfielders are generally capable of moving long distances to catch balls or cut them off from the gap. The infielders can, by and large, turn double plays. The catchers seem way more engaged and supportive of the pitchers.The reality is that the Orioles are probably headed for their first series loss right now - but then, that’s what I thought on Opening Day, too, and they came away from New York with two wins. You never really know.Stats retrieved from Baseball Reference, Fangraphs, and ESPN. The Cubs return home, and Yu Darvish faces his old team."MESA, Arizona — This will be Yu Darvish’s first appearance against his former team, the Rangers, this spring. He faced them once last spring as well. Depending on how the Cubs announce their rotation, he might wind up facing them in the opening series at Texas.In the grand scheme of things, that probably doesn’t mean much at all. Just a random note on a random March day during spring training.The weather has finally turned nice in the Valley. It will be sunny and in the mid 60s today, then rapidly warm through the 70s into the 80s by the weekend Gregory Polanco Jersey , weather much more conducive to baseball.Here are today’s particulars.Cubs lineup:Albert Almora Jr. left Tuesday night’s game earlier than any of the other regulars, after only three innings, but he’s back in the lineup this afternoon, so there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him.Rangers lineup:The Rangers are a split squad today.As noted above, Yu Darvish gets the start for the Cubs. Cubs relievers today (in alphabetical order): Brian Duensing, Brandon Kintzler, James Norwood, Duane Underwood Jr. and Rowan Wick.Adrian Sampson will go for the Rangers. Other Rangers pitchers scheduled today: Connor Sadzeck, Jordan Romano, Phillips Valdez, and C.D. Pelham.Today’s game is an audio webcast on cubs.com. No TV today.MLB.com GamedayPlease note that during spring training, Gameday doesn’t usually go pitch-by-pitch as it does during the regular season — usually, it will update after each at-bat.Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.Please visit our SB Nation Rangers site Lone Star Ball. If you do go there to interact with Rangers fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.For spring-training games, we’ll have a first-pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time (because I know how you all like overflow threads!). For today, that will be 3 p.m. CT and 4:30 p.m. CT.These threads will not post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked ”Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page. There will also be a StoryStream on the front page with all the game thread links, as well as the recap after the game is over. The pitcher boxes and regular-season stats will return on Opening Day.Discuss amongst yourselves.