The Stretch Looming

Today marks one month until baseball resumes again after the All-Star Break. Looking at the schedules ahead for the Red Sox, Yankees, and Blue Jays, one comes to realize that this month-long stretch is critical to each and every team. It is critical because these three teams play all NL East opponents, and the remaining teams that are played are similar in many ways. Boston is heading to Minnesota, the Yankees are hosting Cleveland, and the Jays take on the Orioles in Canada. Each team has an eerily similar record, although Cleveland is the best of the bunch. The Red Sox and Yankees both take on Tampa Bay right before the All-Star Break, but the Jays get to beat up on the lowly Royals. The Jays have to face Baltimore once more, while the Red Sox struggle against the White Sox and the Yankees challenge the Indians again.
In essence, there is only one series in this month-long stretch for each team (Boston v. Chicago, New York v. Cleveland, Toronto v. Baltimore) that can be called vastly different even though Cleveland and Baltimore are similar teams. So then, the Red Sox have the toughest schedule with the White Sox, but we get a “breather” against the Twins while the Jays fight the Orioles and the Yankees take on the Indians.
Here’s the breakdown of team and record:
BOS: Minnesota (28-34), Atlanta (30-34), Washington (30-34), Philadelphia (33-30), New York (N) (39-23), Florida (23-37), Tampa Bay (23-37), Chicago (A) (38-24)
NYY: Cleveland (30-32), Washington (30-34), Philadelphia (33-30), Florida (23-37), Atlanta (30-34), New York (N) (39-23), Cleveland (30-32), Tampa Bay (23-37)
TOR: Baltimore (29-35), Florida (23-37), Atlanta (30-34), New York (N) (39-23), Washington (30-34), Philadelphia (33-30), Texas (34-29), Kansas City (16-45)
This means that a lot can be said about all three frontrunners for the division over these games. With such identical records, the records of each team coming out of this stretch will tell us who exactly has the better team at this point. If the Yankees end this stretch in first place, Red Sox fans can’t point to a tougher schedule, because the schedule was the same. Likewise, Jays fans can boast that the Blue Jays are stronger if they end up in first, because they played a similar schedule.
Each team is with one huge question mark. The Red Sox currently have five starters: one struggling one (Beckett), one ace (Schilling), one solid starter (Wakefield), one rookie (Lester), and an injured, inconsistent starter (Clement). Every one of these starters is going to be key to this drive, as we’re going to rely on these pitchers. If the Sox make a trade, it’ll be for starting pitching (very few of which are available).
The Blue Jays are shuffling around their middle infield, trying to find a combination that works while surviving without Gustavo Chacin (done for the season) and AJ Burnett (on track to return June 22). They’re going to rely on their offense during this section of games. Look for the Blue Jays to keep trying to find a trade partner for the middle infield and perhaps a starting pitcher.
The Yankees took two of three from Boston then went into a skid against Oakland, losing three (and four in a row dating back to Boston’s 9-3 win) and raising questions about their luck running out. The loss of Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui is felt over the course of the season, not just in a few games. Now with Shawn Chacon back (not that he was lighting the world on fire before he got hurt) and Melky Cabrera entrenched in left with a Bernie Williams/Kevin Thompson tandem in right, the Yankees are going to try out mystique and aura to pull them forward. Look for the Yankees to acquire a solid outfielder soon.
I’m going to stop short of calling this an extremely important month, as it is still only June and July after all, but trades are starting to heat up, needs are starting to need to be filled, teams are starting to identify whether or not they’re competing or not, and the similarity of schedules only fuels the fire for the Red Sox to do well because it’s highly likely the Yankees and Blue Jays will do well, as well.
It looks as if Jon Lester’s the fifth starter from hereinout, unless we can acquire someone better. Fortunately, the Red Sox will get Mike Timlin back soon, but the Yankees are going to grab Octavio Dotel off the DL soon and perhaps then Joe Torre will stop running Scott Proctor in the ground. There may be a lot of under .500 teams in this schedule, but not only can the Red Sox beat them up, so can the Jays and the Yankees.
The Red Sox are currently in first, 1 game ahead of the Yankees, 2.5 ahead of the Blue Jays. We’ll see where we are July 13th.