MLB, Schedule Strength of playoff contenders

[Jon_Vilma]

AL only right now, Ranked from Hardest to Easiest<span style="color:#FF6600">1. Chicago White Sox</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 31.Home games remaining: 34.Toughest stretch: They're in it now; six road games at New York and Detroit, and then six home games against Texas and Minnesota.Big finish: They'll end the season with six road games, at Cleveland and Minnesota.<span style="color:#FF6600">2. Seattle Mariners</span>Home games remaining: 33.Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 23.Toughest stretch: Right out of the gate from the All-Star break, they've got two road series in Toronto and New York, and then go home to play the Red Sox and Jays.Big finish: Six home games against Oakland and Texas.<span style="color:#FF6600">3. Los Angeles Angels</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 28 (and incredibly, 13 of those come right out of the All-Star break, consecutively).Home games remaining: 35.Toughest stretch: July 28-Aug. 16, when the Angels have four series against the Red Sox, Yankees, Oakland and Texas -- plus a makeup game against the White Sox.Big finish: Seven games against Oakland and the Rangers.<span style="color:#FF6600">4. Toronto Blue Jays</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 33.Home games remaining: 35.Toughest stretch: The final two weeks of the season will be brutal for the Blue Jays -- they play the Tigers, Yankees and Boston.Big finish: In the last week of the season, Toronto has three games at Detroit and three in Yankee Stadium.<span style="color:#FF6600">5. Detroit Tigers</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 33.Home games remaining: 41.Toughest stretch: From Aug. 11-24, they have seven games against the White Sox, three vs. the Red Sox and four against the Rangers.Big finish: Six home games, against Toronto and Kansas City.<span style="color:#FF6600">6. Minnesota Twins</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 38.Home games remaining: 41.Toughest stretch: July 24-Aug. 2, with three series against the White Sox, Detroit and Texas.Big finish: Seven home games, with four against Kansas City and three against the White Sox.<span style="color:#FF6600">7. Oakland Athletics</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 39.Home games remaining: 35.Toughest stretch: July 21-Aug. 2, with two home series against Boston and Toronto sandwiched by road trips to Detroit and Anaheim.Big finish: Seven of their last 10 games are against the Angels, plus a three-game road series in Seattle.<span style="color:#FF6600">8. New York Yankees</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 39.Home games remaining: 38.Toughest stretch: Aug. 18-Sept. 3, when the Yankees play five games in Boston, head out West for two series, and then come home to play the Tigers and Twins.Big finish: Six home games against Baltimore and Toronto.<span style="color:#FF6600">9. Boston Red Sox</span>Games remaining against team with sub-.500 records: 39.Home games remaining: 44.Toughest stretch: Aug. 14-Sept. 6, a time in which the Red Sox will play the five games against the Yankees and four against Toronto, and make a long West Coast trip.Big finish: Five home games against Tampa Bay and Baltimore.<span style="color:#FF6600">10. Texas Rangers</span>Games remaining against teams with sub-.500 records: 43.Home games remaining: 42.Toughest stretch: July 17-Aug. 9, when the Rangers play Toronto, the White Sox, the Yankees, the Red Sox and close with a road series against the Angels.Big finish: Three games in Anaheim and three in Seattle.

 

[GotSkillz92]

Is this only American League?

 

[Jon_Vilma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GotSkillz52 @ Jul 14 2006, 05:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Is this only American League?</div>National League hasn't been posted yet, probably in a day or two.

 

[AdropOFvenom]

Mets easily have the easiest remaining schedule in the NL. 72 Games Remaining-10 Against Philadelphia (40-48)-9 Against Atlanta (41-49)-10 Against Washington (38-53)-10 Against Florida (39-49)-5 Against Chicago (34-55) -3 Against Pittsburgh (31-60)-6 Against Houston (44-47) -6 Against Colorado (44-45)-3 Against St. Louis (50-39)-3 Against San Diego (48-41)-4 Against Los Angeles (46-44)-3 Against Cincinnati (47-44)-36 At Home, 36 on the Road. But we have the exact same record on the road as we do at home.-0 West Coast Trips and the only 2 road trips with serious travel time are Colorado and Houston.-Season Finale: @ Florida, @ Pittsburgh, Florida (4), Washington (4), @ Atlanta, @ WashingtonThats 59/72 Games against teams with losing records and only 13/72 Games against teams with Winning Records.

 

[Jon_Vilma]

NL this time, and again ranked from toughest to easiest.<span style="color:#FF6600">1. Arizona Diamondbacks</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 25.Home games remaining: 41.Toughest stretch: Sept. 19-27 will test them, as they play the Padres, the Dodgers and the Giants on the road.Big Finish: They close with a four-game homestand against San Diego.<span style="color:#FF6600">2. Los Angeles Dodgers</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 28.Home games remaining: 35.Toughest stretch: Aug. 18-Sept. 10, with six series against contenders, including four road games against the Mets.Big Finish: Six road games, at Colorado (three) and at San Francisco.<span style="color:#FF6600">3. Milwaukee Brewers</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 40.Home games remaining: 32.Toughest stretch: The final two weeks has a chance to be brutal for Milwaukee, with seven games against the Cardinals and four against the Giants, among 13 games.Big Finish: The Brewers finish on the road, with two games in Wrigley Field and four games in St. Louis. Whew.<span style="color:#FF6600">4. San Diego Padres</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 31. Home games remaining: 34.Toughest stretch: July 20-Aug. 13, when the Padres have an 11-game meatgrinder through San Francisco, L.A., and Colorado, come home for six games, and then head out to play the Mets and Astros on the road.Big Finish: Seven road games, with three at St. Louis and four at Arizona.<span style="color:#FF6600">5. Colorado Rockies</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 33.Home games remaining: 37.Toughest stretch: The rest of this month will be a serious trial for the Rockies, who have 10 road games before going home to play the Cardinals and the Padres.Big Finish: Colorado has a 10-game homestand leading up to the final weekend of the season, and then closes with three games in Wrigley Field.<span style="color:#FF6600">6. San Francisco Giants</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 34.Home games remaining: 36.Toughest stretch: The last three road trips the Giants have in the second half will be long -- 10 games, 9 games, and 10 games. Not easy.Big Finish: Six games at home, against Arizona and the Dodgers.<span style="color:#FF6600">7. Houston Astros</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 45.Home games remaining: 32.Toughest stretch: From Aug. 17 to Sept. 23, the Astros are scheduled to play 26 games -- and of those, 20 are on the road. Three of the six home games in that stretch are against the Mets.Big Finish: They finish on the road, with three games at Pittsburgh and three at Atlanta.<span style="color:#FF6600">8. Cincinnati Reds</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 40.Home games remaining: 39.Toughest stretch: They're into it already -- coming out of the break, they've got a 10-game homestand against the Rockies, Mets and Brewers, then hit the road and play the Astros and Brewers, before facing the Dodgers in Cincinnati. We may know by then whether they are contenders or pretenders.Big Finish: All on the road, with three games at Florida and then at Pittsburgh.<span style="color:#FF6600">9. Philadelphia Phillies</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 53 (Every game the Phillies are scheduled to play in September, in fact, will be against teams currently under .500).Home games remaining: 34.Toughest stretch: July 14-Aug. 17, in which the Phillies have seven games against the Mets, a West Coast swing through San Francisco and San Diego, and a series at. St. Louis.Big Finish: Three games at Washington, three games at Florida.<span style="color:#FF6600">10. Atlanta Braves</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 48.Home games remaining: 37.Toughest stretch: They could either become serious contenders or get knocked out in the next couple of weeks -- out of the break, they open with 10 road games, including three in San Diego, three in St. Louis and four in Philly, before returning home for three games against the Marlins and then the Mets.Big Finish: They play the Mets and the Astros at home in the last week.<span style="color:#FF6600">11. St. Louis Cardinals</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 49.Home games remaining: 38.Toughest stretch: Sept. 11-24, when the Cardinals host the Astros and the Giants in a six-game homestand, before hitting the road for seven games at Milwaukee and Houston.Big Finish: All home games in the last week, with three against the Padres and four against the Milwaukee Brewers.<span style="color:#FF6600">12. New York Mets</span>Games remaining against teams sub-.500: 54.Home games remaining: 36.Toughest stretch: Aug. 18-Sept. 3, six home games against the Rockies and Cardinals, and a three-game series at Colorado and another at Houston.Big Finish: Three games at Atlanta, three games at Washington.

 

[Brooksie5]

Mets should win 100 easily!

 

[ATLDirtyBirds]

^ and I'm looking foward to it!

 

[Jon_Vilma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brooksie5 @ Jul 15 2006, 07:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Mets should win 100 easily!</div>No one wins 100 games "easily." But yes they'll probably get 100+ wins this year. Even though they are only the 4th or 5th best team overall, they rule the NL.

 

[gopackers4]

Toronto plays better against good teams anyway

 

[Jon_Vilma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gopackers4 @ Jul 16 2006, 12:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Toronto plays better against good teams anyway</div>So do the Jacksonville Jaguars, doesn't mean they are begging for a tough schedule.

 

[gopackers4]

Never said that but I'm not worried that they'll sink down in the standings like other teams might.

 

[ATLDirtyBirds]

^ the mets? no way they fall.

 

[AdropOFvenom]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jon_Vilma @ Jul 16 2006, 01:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gopackers4 @ Jul 16 2006, 12:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Toronto plays better against good teams anyway</div>So do the Jacksonville Jaguars, doesn't mean they are begging for a tough schedule.</div>?Jacksonville was 3-4 against teams with a Winning Record and mainly only made the playoffs because they're schedule consisted of Tennessee twice, Houston twice, San Francisco, Arizona, Cleveland, Baltimore, St. Louis (Who did beat them) and our NY Jets (Who almost beat them even though Pennington was playing with a torn rotator cuff). Not to mention the game they played Pittsburgh Tommy Maddox was starting that game and threw 3 INT's basically handing them the game on a silver platter. And ATLDirtyBirds, I think he was referring to Toronto.

 

[The Marine]

That's funny how the critics were saying the yankees won't make the playoffs well think again.. they are 1 game behind the Red Sox and they definately have a shot. Look like both teams will keep going back and forth.Keep an eyes on the Angels. I see them winning their division and they are a very hot team right now. I wouldn't count them out

 

[Jon_Vilma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (AdropOFvenom @ Jul 16 2006, 10:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jon_Vilma @ Jul 16 2006, 01:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gopackers4 @ Jul 16 2006, 12:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Toronto plays better against good teams anyway</div>So do the Jacksonville Jaguars, doesn't mean they are begging for a tough schedule.</div>?Jacksonville was 3-4 against teams with a Winning Record</div>But they play to the level of their competition.

 

[Jon_Vilma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xpostxscript @ Jul 17 2006, 12:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's funny how the critics were saying the yankees won't make the playoffs well think again.. they are 1 game behind the Red Sox and they definately have a shot. Look like both teams will keep going back and forth.Keep an eyes on the Angels. I see them winning their division and they are a very hot team right now. I wouldn't count them out</div>Half a game mate. And the Yankees are winning 3-1 and the Bosox are losing 0-3 right now in their games. Lol.

 

[AdropOFvenom]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jon_Vilma @ Jul 17 2006, 04:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xpostxscript @ Jul 17 2006, 12:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>That's funny how the critics were saying the yankees won't make the playoffs well think again.. they are 1 game behind the Red Sox and they definately have a shot. Look like both teams will keep going back and forth.Keep an eyes on the Angels. I see them winning their division and they are a very hot team right now. I wouldn't count them out</div>Half a game mate. And the Yankees are winning 3-1 and the Bosox are losing 0-3 right now in their games. Lol.</div>So what...you guys are riding a hot streak now like Boston was when they took that 4 game lead......

 

[GotSkillz92]

haha Boston still won. Still 1/2 game lead.

 

[jeefunk]

Don't count the Braves out, if they can keep up this offensive explosion, they'll be unstoppable and their pitching woes will be a non-factor.

 

[AdropOFvenom]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (jeefunk @ Jul 18 2006, 05:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Don't count the Braves out, if they can keep up this offensive explosion, they'll be unstoppable and their pitching woes will be a non-factor.</div>Asking them to score 9 runs a game is completely unreasonable though.No way they keep up this offensive explosion and their pitching still sucks.

 

[DevinHester23]

LET'S GO TIGERS!!! Beat the White Sox!!

 

[GotSkillz92]

Not the mention the Braves have one of the worst if not the worst bullpens in the league. Theyve blown more saves than anyone in the majors. There's no way they can pass seven teams.

 

[chang]

Now that the Blue jays cut Hillenbrand, I say they're close to being done. He was a key average hitter for them and catching the Red Sox or Yankees isn't easy with a shitty lineup with a 3-4-5 that isn't producing anything.

 

[Jon_Vilma]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (chang @ Jul 20 2006, 09:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Now that the Blue jays cut Hillenbrand, I say they're close to being done. He was a key average hitter for them and catching the Red Sox or Yankees isn't easy with a shitty lineup with a 3-4-5 that isn't producing anything.</div>I say the Yankees pick him up.

 

[GotSkillz92]

I think the Yanks are happy with Giambi playing DH and Phillips playing first. The Yanks are after pitching and adding Shea would weaken the infield D. Phillips can sometimes give them a spark on O and he makes great plays in D.

 

[AdropOFvenom]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (chang @ Jul 20 2006, 08:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Now that the Blue jays cut Hillenbrand, I say they're close to being done. He was a key average hitter for them and catching the Red Sox or Yankees isn't easy with a shitty lineup with a 3-4-5 that isn't producing anything.</div>Shea Hillenbrand at .301 had the 7th highest batting average for the Blue Jays, He is one of 7 players to hit .300 for the Blue Jays. Reed Johnson, Alex Rios, Frank Catalonotto, Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay are all hitting over .300 this season.He was 5th in the team in Home Runs, Troy Glaus, Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay, and Alex Rios have more. Not saying they wont miss him, but he is very replaceable to one of the best hitting teams in baseball (The Highest Batting Average in Baseball, 3rd Highest On Base Percentage, Highest Slugging Percentage, Third in Home Runs, ect)If their pitcihng can get their act togeather, including AJ Burnett, this team is far from out of it.