AL Notes: Schedule Difficulty May Be The Key In Wildcard Race

The American League wildcard race may come down to two three-game sets in late September, as the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, and New York Yankees will be face-to-face in the next 10 days, but the Oakland A’s continue to stay within distance and may benefit from the teams ahead of them playing each other.

After Monday night’s 4-3 victory over Texas and the Blue Jays 6-4 loss in Tampa Bay, the Red Sox hold a 1.5 game lead over Toronto for the top wildcard spot.

Boston went 2-6 against division leaders Tampa and Chicago, but rebounded with a five-game winning streak against Seattle and the bottom-dwelling Baltimore Orioles and have the easiest schedule of the playoff contenders, with two interleague games against the Mets, the three-game showdown with the Bronx Bombers at Fenway this weekend, before finishing with six games on the road with the last-place Orioles and Washington Nationals.

Toronto shot past the Yankees into the second wildcard spot, courtesy of going 12-1 to start the month of September, but have cooled the last week, going .500 in six games against the Twins and Rays. The Blue Jays have two more games in Tampa this week, a four-game road trip to Minnesota, before facing the Yankees for three at the Rogers Centre and the Orioles to finish off the season.

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New York has been a complete disaster since their 13-game win streak in August, going 8-15 with series losses to the Mets and Cleveland, but their downfall this year may end up being their 11-8 record against the woeful Orioles, compared to Boston’s 12-4 and Toronto’s 11-5 record. The Yankees’ main advantage is playing both clubs ahead of them down the stretch, but it is tough to make a case for them with the spotty pitching and inconsistent hitting they’ve had all season.

After two more against the last-place Rangers, New York plays three in Boston and three in Toronto before finishing at home against the Rays.

The A’s appeared out of the race after starting the month 4-8, but they have climbed back into the race with five wins in a row on the road against the Royals and Angels. Oakland’s fortunes lie with their ability to beat AL West rivals Seattle and Houston, as they play each six times to finish out the schedule.