Over a span of a week and a half starting at the end of May, the Orioles played the Rays seven times and beat them in six of those games, including a four-game mop in the Trop where the O’s outscored their St. Petersburg-based opposition by a 25-7 margin.
Since that time, the Rays have spent a lot of time muddling around near .500, a position in the standings that led them to decide to trade away six different regular players from their roster in sell-off deals ahead of the July 30 trade deadline. Included in that flurry of deals was the one that brought Zach Eflin, who will be starting the opening game of this series, to the Orioles.