Two division leaders in the early going squared off over the weekend, and halved a four game set in Baltimore. Chicago has undergone a wholesale makeover from the squad that placed fourth in the AL Central in 2015 with a 76-86 record. Baltimore has made fewer changes, hoping another year of experience for its younger players will result in an improvement on last year’s 81-81 record, good for third place in the AL East.

After the jump, a look at these teams and the series that was.

Chicago starts the year with new faces all over the field.

So, new faces behind the plate, at second, third and short, and at one outfield spot.

The pitching rotation has one significant change with Mat Latos filling the spot of departed Jeff Samardzija. Joining Latos are holdovers Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, John Danks and Carlos Rodon. The bullpen returns largely intact, backstopped by premier closer David Robertson.

Different story for the Orioles who return with their infield and catchers intact. Baltimore’s outfield has a new look with holdover Adam Jones now flanked by rookie Joey Rickard in left and newcomer Mark Trumbo in right. In the DH spot, Pedro Alvarez makes his AL debut after averaging better than one home run per 20 PA over his last three seasons.

Baltimore’s rotation has newcomer Yovanni Gallardo replacing Wei-Yin Chan, to join holdovers Ubaldo Jimenez, Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman. The fifth spot, like last season, looks a bit sketchy with youngsters Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson and Vance Worley sharing that role thus far. The Oriole bullpen returns largely intact, with Zach Britton as closer following a 36 save season in 2015.

The two teams entered this series leading their divisions, with Chicago’s 16-6 record tied for their best after 22 games since 1913 (two of the three previous times the White Sox started this well were championship seasons, in 1919 and 2005). Baltimore’s 12-8 mark was better than their record after 20 games in 83 of the franchise’s previous 103 seasons.

The series began on Thursday with the Orioles striking early against Chicago starter John Danks, en route to a 10-2 romp. Baltimore got two hits from six starters for the first time this season, after three such games in 2015. Danks dropped to 0-4 on the season, with just one quality start on his resume. Danks has to be a concern for Chicago; after a 46-44 record and 115 ERA+ in 747 IP through his age 25 season in 2010, it’s been all downhill, with a 33-60 record and 84 ERA+ in 756 IP since then. That W-L% (.355) and the ERA+ are both worst among 52 active pitchers with 750 IP since 2011.

On Friday, Brett Lawrie‘s homer leading off the 7th inning tied the game 3-3 but the Orioles’ Nolan Reimold went deep in the home half of the frame to score Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy ahead of him to secure Baltimore’s 6-3 win. Baltimore did all that damage in the space of just six pitches to start the inning, victimizing Chicago starter Carlos Rodon who had made only 82 pitches before that frame (so leaving him in to pitch the 7th wasn’t a surprise). Manny Machado contributed two hits, including a double, part of a blistering April slash of .344/.394/.667. Machado has been a consistent hot starter for his career, with April being his best month with a 122 tOPS+ (that is, 22% better than his overall OPS).

In a see-saw affair on Saturday, the White Sox erased an early Orioles lead, scoring twice in the 3rd inning on two Baltimore errors, and extended that lead in the 4th inning on a solo home run by Brett Lawrie. The Orioles took the lead back with a pair of home runs in the home 4th and run-scoring doubles in the 5th and 6th innings. Chicago crept closer with a singleton in the 7th and then teed off on Baltimore’s normally reliable Darren O’Day in the 8th, greeting him with double, single, home run as Todd Frazier‘s blast put Chicago ahead by two. But, the Orioles tied it up in the home eighth when Chris Davis‘s double scored two runs, both unearned after an error by Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu, who made up for that miscue in the 9th with a two out RBI single to secure an 8-7 White Sox win. The game time of 3:42 was the eighth longest in 9-inning tilts between these two teams, and the longest in the past 10 seasons. Both teams used six pitchers, a first since at least 1913 in a 9-inning game between these clubs. O’Day’s outing allowing 3 earned runs and 3 hits was just his fourth in 440 appearances over the past 8 seasons, after suffering that misfortune 5 times in his 2008 rookie season with the Angels.

In the finale, Chicago salvaged the series split, cruising to a 7-1 win after getting to Ubaldo Jiminez for a 5-spot in a 5th inning on 5 hits, two HPB, a walk and a wild pitch. Chris Sale improved to 6-0, the first Chicago pitcher at that mark after 6 starts since James Baldwin in 2000, and only the third Sox southpaw to do so since 1913, following Wilson Alvarez in 1994 and  Lefty Williams in 1920. Brett Lawrie went deep for the third straight game, the first such three-peat of his career.

As the season goes along, I’ll try to take a look at future series between leading clubs.