Photo credit: Joy R. Absalon

All 30 major league teams kick off the 2018 regular season Thursday, which means it’s time for my second annual AL East position rankings series.

The premise is simple. I’m comparing the Orioles to their four divisional opponents at every position on the field. Today I’m covering the infielders; tomorrow, the outfielders, designated hitters and benches; and Wednesday the pitching staffs and managers.

I ran this series before the 2017 season with laughably inaccurate results. (Ranking Jose Bautista over Aaron Judge was a particularly egregious one.) But, as they say, if at first you don’t succeed … well, see if you can be more wrong the second time around.

Let’s get started with the infield, where the Orioles rank first at two positions.