Ranking the AL's roughest roads to the playoffs

Thursday, July 16, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry

Schedule advantages and disadvantages are difficult to calculate in baseball, because you don't know who will be hurt, which team will be hot and which team will fade, and you don't know exactly which pitcher you might face in a crucial series in September. If Roy Halladay is still wearing a Jays uniform, for example, he'll probably get the ball against the Red Sox in the last week of the season. If not, well, the Red Sox might face a guy who's pitching in Triple-A these days.

But there are some general numbers to assess strength of schedule, and based on those, the second half could be a difficult challenge for the Rangers, while the road ahead for the Minnesota Twins -- who have already finished their games against the Red Sox, Rays and Yankees -- appears to be more favorable than other contenders.

We've ranked the remaining AL contenders below based on schedule, starting with the most favorable. We'll cover the National League on Saturday (no blog Friday).

1. Minnesota Twins

Most of the Twins' remaining games are on the road, and that's a challenge. But they are the only AL Central contender that has finished its games against the AL East monsters.

Home games remaining: 33 (of 73)

The most brutal hurdle remaining: Right out of the All-Star break, the Twins will have their hands full: 10 straight road games, including a series in the Texas heat and a four-game run in Anaheim, and then the Twins will come home for three games against the White Sox and three against the Angels. The Twins' next scheduled game with a team under .500 in the second half will be Aug. 4, in Cleveland.

But the Twins' schedule appears to be incredibly soft thereafter, including a whopping eight series against the worst teams in the AL.

Games remaining against teams with .500-plus records: 36

The big finish: After playing a tough 10 games on the road with the White Sox, Royals and Tigers, the Twins close out with three at home against Kansas City.

2. Boston Red Sox

Home games remaining: 36 (of 74)

To see the Red Sox's most brutal hurdle remaining, along with Buster's evaluation of seven other AL playoff contenders, plus news, notes and analysis from around MLB, you must be an ESPN Insider. Insider  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

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