Mariners: How does their schedule stack up to the other playoff hopefuls?

Rays Remaining Strength of Schedule: .498 w/ 36 games left (14th toughest)

We are going to start at the top of the AL East, working down through their division before hopping over to the AL West, and working down to the Mariners. I thought about going from easiest to toughest or vice versa but decided on finishing with the Mariners as the last team. If you want to skip ahead to it, feel free, but you could be missing out on some good info *toot-toot*.

• 7 vs Boston
• 6 vs Toronto
• 3 vs New York
• 3 vs Houston

There are going to be two important stretches to watch for Tampa throughout the rest of the season. The first one is coming up soon and will be mentioned again in a few slides. After they finish up with the Phillies, they’ll have three games with Baltimore, who has the worst record in baseball at 38-86.

Then the important part comes. They will play four vs Boston, three vs Minnesota, and then three more vs Boston. With seven games in 10 days against a division rival with a playoff berth on the line, those games are going to be incredibly important. Looking at Tampa’s schedule, it’s likely the second toughest stretch of their remaining schedule.

The toughest/most important comes right at the end of the season. They’ll go to Houston for three games, and then finish up the season with three games in New York against the Yankees. There could be plenty on the line still, even if they have a berth locked up. They could still be fighting for home-field advantage, and positioning within the playoffs.

They also have 7 of 10 games against Detroit right after the last Boston series, and the Tigers have been feisty after a slow start. They’re definitely a team you wouldn’t want to overlook and could cause the Rays to stumble if they aren’t careful.