Breaking Down the Remaining Schedule

The Yankees go into tonight's game with the AL West leading Texas Rangers with the best record in baseball. Sitting at 69-43 with just 50 games remaining they hold just a 1/2 game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays and only a 5 game lead over the Boston Red Sox for the AL East title. Here at SIH we will break down the Yankees remaining schedule.

Texas (.580) - 4
Kansas City (.416) - 4
Detroit (.478) - 4
Seattle (.386) - 3
Toronto (.527) - 9
Chicago White Sox (.558) - 3
Oakland (.500) - 4
Baltimore (.345) - 6
Tampa Bay (.611) - 7
Boston (.570) - 6

Home Games - 24
Away Games - 26

There will be two critical stretches for the Yankees over the final 50 games of the 2010 season. The first is a home stand beginning August 30th. This is a 10 game home stand in which the Yankees will play at or Oakland, Toronto, and Baltimore. At home the Yanks play at a .649 clip and against sub-par teams that are not in contention this will be a stretch where the team needs to take care of business and if still in the AL East lead increase the gap. If not in the lead this is a stretch where they will need to close the gap and hopefully retake the division.

The second critical stretch is a home stand as well which starts off with a 4 game set against the Rays followed by a 3 game set with the Red Sox. This trio of teams will be competing with each other for the division crown and the Wild Card. Even if the Red Sox are out of it by then, you know nothing would please them more to spoil the division for the Yankees. 26 percent of the Yankees remaining games coming against the Rays and Red Sox the Yankees just need to handle their business.

With the Yankees playing poorly as of late remember this: With 50 games remaining if the Yankees play just .500 baseball the rest of the way they will finish with a 94-68. While this probably won't be good enough to win the division it will keep them in wild card contention. The Yankees are very unlikely to play .500 ball the rest of the way as their current win percentage is .616 and have played at a high of a .640 clip. This team has the experience to close out the division down the stretch and are poised for a deep October run. Enjoy the possible playoff preview tonight down in Texas with the Yankees facing Cliff Lee looking for a series split.