The *Other* Schedule Imbalance

Yeah, the 5th through 7th best team in MLB is going to miss the playoffs while the 17th or so will not only make it, they'll get home field advantage! But that's a topic for another time.

Teams routinely play 9 or 10 days in a row. The former happens when you have a Monday off day and then another the next week on Thursday, and the latter when the opposite sequence happens. 

Longer stretches are uncommon. And a second factor in no-rest stress (as we all saw) is the number of games you have to play with just one day off ... is the epic stretch preceded or followed by a 9 or 10-er?

 

The Sox first, all the 13+ straight days streaks together with their before or after. .

A week after the season started they played 29 games in 30 days, 19 straight followed by 10.

In mid-late August they played 26 games in 27 days, 10 followed by 16.

And tonight we start a 13 game streak, but following a 6 gamer ... and we have an extra spot in the bullpen.

 

Since the Orioles have outperformed their Pythagorean by 8 wins while the Sox are even, I thought I'd start the opposition rundown with them.

Earlier they played 23 games in 24 days, 13 followed by 10. When was that? Immediately after the All-Star break. Seriously.

They are about to start another 23 games in 24 days run, 17 followed (and preceded) by 6. And this with an extra guy in the pen.

That's it.

I don't have to summarize this, do I?

I'll do the Jays, MFY's, and Rays when I have a chance, as my initial curiosity has been satisfied. Do some teams have brutal schedules compared to others, in the same division? 

Oh, yes.