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

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Aug 19, 2021; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager (15) in action during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

The Mariners finished off a sweep of Oakland, gaining two games on their nearest competitor not just within the division, but within the wild card race as well. It puts them just one game back of the Athletics and helps position the Mariners into a great spot with just 35 games remaining in the 2021 regular season.

The M’s are 69-58, 11 games over for the first time all year. Very few people thought that the Mariners would be ready to make any kind of a leap this year, especially with some of the injuries that they have faced. Losing James Paxton for the entire year, as well as Kyle Lewis for 90 games and counting is no easy thing to overcome. Yet here they are.

The Mariners strength of schedule will be incredibly important.

Wednesday is an off day for the Mariners as they travel back home in advance of playing the Royals and the Astros over their next seven games. So, what I wanted to do today was try and get a better handle on the rest of the season for the Mariners. Actually, not just the Mariners, but all the teams that are around them in the playoff race.

There are a handful of teams that are fighting for the remaining four playoff spots. I say four because the White Sox have all but wrapped up their division with a ten-game lead in the AL Central. That leaves Tampa, New York, Boston, Toronto, Houston, Oakland, and Seattle.

Seven teams fighting for four playoff spots. Tampa and Houston have decent leads in their divisions, but with a lot of games left against the two teams chasing each of them, it’s far from a certainty that they make it.

I want to take a look at the schedule that is remaining for each team, and see if there is anything that we can glean from them. Does someone have a much harder schedule than anyone else? Does any team have a particularly rough stretch? Or does someone have a run against teams that have pretty much given up on the 2021 season already? Let’s dive in and look at each teams remaining schedule. Thanks to the folks at Tankathon for a nice graphic on scheduling.

CLEVELAND, OHIO – JULY 22: Closing pitcher Diego Castillo #63 of the Tampa Bay Rays reacts after the last strike to defeat the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on July 22, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Indians 5-4 in 10 innings. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /

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.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – JULY 08: Jordan Montgomery #47 of the New York Yankees reacts after giving up a solo home run to Kyle Seager #15 of the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park on July 08, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

Yankees Remaining Strength of Schedule: .478 w/36 games left (27th toughest)

7 vs Toronto
6 vs Baltimore
4 vs Oakland
3 vs Boston
3 vs Tampa

The Yankees second-toughest stretch remaining this season is actually their next series, as they have to make a trip out to Oakland to play four games against the Athletics. With the 4th easiest schedule remaining in all of baseball, there just aren’t a lot of hard games left to play. Other than, you know, the fact that it is baseball and things can go wonky at the drop of a hat.

In the midst of the longest active win streak in baseball, the Yankees have ridden that 11-game win streak to a 74-52 record, just four games back of Tampa for the division lead, and 2.5 games up on Boston for the 1st wild card spot.

They seem to be in the driver’s seat for controlling their own destiny the rest of the way. The timeline to watch for them will be the next 27 games. They’ll need to be in a comfortable spot come September 24th, as they finish out with a brutal inner-division stretch. Three at Boston. Three at Toronto. Three vs Tampa. It’s impossible for all those teams to make the playoffs, so it’s going to be a fight in every game… especially since no one likes the Yankees.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – APRIL 22: Sam Haggerty #0 of the Seattle Mariners steals second past Xander Bogaerts #2 of the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Red Sox Remaining Strength of Schedule: .498 w/ 35 games left (15th toughest)

7 vs Tampa
6 vs Baltimore
3 vs Seattle
3 vs New York

An interesting stretch to watch for the Sox is actually going to be the one that starts up here soon. They start a series against Cleveland on Friday and then play Tampa for four games, Cleveland for three more, and Tampa again for four. There’s a chance that Boston could make a big move up OR down the standings due to those Tampa games.

There is good news at the end of the season for Boston though. six of their last 14 are going to be against Baltimore, with three more against the Nationals. That’s a lot of games against teams that are shutting it down or will be completely out of it by the end of the season.

If so interested, the Red Sox will actually be coming to town to play the Mariners on September 13-15th for a three-game series. If both teams are able to make it through the next couple of weeks semi-unscathed, then we could be seeing a wonderful series at T-Mobile in the middle of September with a lot on the line.

Aug 13, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Robbie Ray (38) reacts after surrendering a two run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /

Blue Jays Remaining Strength of Schedule: .479 w/38 games left (26th toughest)

10 vs Baltimore
7 vs New York
7 vs Minnesota
6 vs Tampa
3 vs Oakland

Those are their last 33 games. They only play those five teams. That’s such an odd way to have the end of the season pan out. There are no random series stuffed in there. You would think that maybe they would only play the Twins once, or they would have another series to add in there.

As it sits, about 1/3rd of their remaining games are going to end up being against Baltimore. This is the exact way that the Blue Jays can get back into the playoff race. If they can go 7-3 or 8-2 against the Orioles (they are currently 6-3 against them on the season) then it will launch them up the standings.

Other than that, they have seven against New York, and nothing against Boston or Tampa. For Mariners fans, we should be hoping that Toronto and Baltimore split their series, or that Baltimore even wins more than they lose. Then, we want them to take it to the Yankees are drop them down the standings.

LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 03: Michael Brantley #23 of the Houston Astros watches as a bat girl removes an inflatable trash can that was thrown on to the field in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on August 3, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Astros Remaining Strength of Schedule: .484 w/36 games left (23rd toughest)

7 vs LA
7 vs Texas
6 vs Seattle
6 vs Oakland
3 vs Tampa

The Astros have a great chance to wipe up against the bottom of the division. They play seven games against Texas and seven against the Angels as well. There is a good chance that they have the division wrapped up partway through September if they are able to take care of business like you would expect them to. Check out this stretch.

3 vs LA. 4 vs Texas. 3 vs Arizona. 4 vs LA.

Houston could easily go 10-4 over that stretch and close out the division with nine games to go. That actually isn’t what Mariners fans want, as six of their last nine games are going to be against Oakland. The hope is that Houston falters a bit, and then turns it on to finish and knocks Oakland out of the picture.

It seemed like Houston was a bit further ahead of everyone, and I know a lot of fans sort of putting them out of sight out of mind. However, it’s just not the case right now. They are only 4.5 up on Oakland, which isn’t a very large margin. A good week from Oakland or Seattle and a bad week from Houston could drastically shake things up. Speaking of Oakland…

May 25, 2021; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy (12) reacts before a pitch against the Seattle Mariners. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /

Athletics Remaining Strength of Schedule: .523 w/35 games left (5th toughest)

7 vs Seattle
6 vs Houston
4 vs New York
3 vs Toronto

There are two important stretches for the Athletics to keep an eye on. The first is their next series, which was referenced a bit earlier. They play four games against the Yankees next. We all know that with four-game series, you can end up with a wild swing if someone wins the series. There aren’t really feel good wins when you lose a four-game series. Not like when Seattle came back and won the finale against Houston. It wouldn’t have been the same if it was game four.

They play Toronto and the White Sox early in September, and then their season will likely come down to the last two weeks of the season. They finish with four against the Mariners and three against Houston, then follow it up with three in Seattle and three in Houston.

This might just be the toughest/most important stretch that any of these teams listed are going to face. Look, every game is important at this point. That’s definitely not something I’m arguing. I’m trying to get across that the mix of importance and difficulty is likely higher than that of what anyone else is going to face.

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – AUGUST 12: Marco Gonzales #7 of the Seattle Mariners reacts to pitching a one-run complete game against the Texas Rangers at T-Mobile Park on August 12, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners won 3-1. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /

Mariners Remaining Strength of Schedule: .491 w/35 games left (20th toughest)

7 vs Oakland
7 vs Kansas City
6 vs LA
6 vs Houston
6 vs Arizona
3 vs Boston

Well, that’s actually the entirety of the Mariners remaining schedule. Since it’s the M’s, and that’s who we are here to read about, I wanted to give you the whole thing.

The Mariners have a great chance over the next 2.5 weeks to continue to gain ground in the Wild Card Race. Heck, they could even make ground on Houston, but I’m not going to be overly optimistic on that one.

They have four against the Royals, then play Houston, Arizona, Houston, Arizona. If they can win each Arizona series, and the Royals series, that would put them at 7-3 over that stretch. Then, then hope is a split with Houston. I know we want more, but realism is sometimes the best way to look at it. Especially if you are taking care of business against those other teams.

That would get them to 79-64. Even splitting the three with Boston and Kansas City would be okay. 82-67. I think all of us would be happy to see the Mariners there in the middle of September.

They finish Oakland (4), LA, Oakland, LA. Taking care of Oakland is going to be paramount, and could be the series that decides on if the Mariners get into the playoffs. 3-3 against LA and 5-2 against Oakland would get them to 90-72. That just might do it, even though it would be cutting it close. Let’s hope for that, as well as the AL East either beating up on each other, or one of those teams completely falling apart. This is gonna be fun Mariners fans.

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