Analyzing Playoff Contenders as Season Approaches Final Stretch
Joe Raineri and Craig Mish discuss which teams stand to benefit from their lighter schedules as they gear up for their final six series of the season.
Video Transcript
And it's about that time, I guess, now as we're, you know, getting ready to approach, you know, two weeks into August, you know, start comparing.
Craig, I've been looking into teams with the schedule that is remaining that goes uh-oh, or whether or not it could be very favorable for them.
And it's about, what, six weeks out, so now is the time to try to look out and go, I mean, each team's got about, what, six series left.
Is that it, about five or six there, Craig, at this point?
It feels like that, yeah.
It feels like that's where we are.
I don't know.
I don't have the numbers.
Do you have that?
Do you I, I, I'd have to look it up.
I have to say, for instance, I'll give you the Yankees.
Of course I will.
Mm-hmm.
Mariners.
Sure.
Blue Jays.
Right.
Orioles, Blue Jays.
Okay.
Astros, Red Sox.
Gotcha.
So six, it looks like.
So yeah, so we're- Okay, yeah basically August 11th through the end of August, so about six series here remaining.
And that last series, of course, is at home against the, the Red Sox there before we turn the calendar into, September, and then it won't be much longer after that.
Makes sense.
Yeah.
No, it makes sense.
So.
And, you, you know, I, I, I think if you look at the schedule, too, for baseball, the way that the last weekend pans out is they did put a lot of division rivalries up against each other- that last weekend.
Yes.
So it, it could be a huge factor for the final week of the season, maybe for some and maybe for not all.
But it, it's Look, it's just been very up and down.
You know, a week ago, I was looking at the Cincinnati Reds and thinking, "Are they getting back in this thing?"
They're winning a lot.
They get swept over the weekend.
I was thinking, "Oh, Seattle, now they're doing okay."
They get swept over the weekend, so they're out of it.
St. Louis, I think you and I talked about this, they're dead.
Wait, no they're not.
Yeah.
All of a sudden they win a bunch, and now they're in good shape.
The other team, Pittsburgh Pirates.
Yep.
Let's take a look at them for a minute.
Pittsburgh, oh, they're on top of the world.
They got the pitching.
They got the hitting.
I don't think there's been a worse team in that wild card chase.
In fact, the Pirates right now have the same odds as the Nationals to go to the playoffs.
Yep.
How about that?
What happened to Pittsburgh there?
So as you can see, stock up, stock down, and we're far from done with this.
But, I will say, Joe, that I'll see the Pirates here Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in Miami as they play the Marlins, Joe.
But, if the Marlins are gonna If the I, I don't know that they're gonna sweep the series.
Pirates are, you know, a decent team.
But- Right I would say this is the series of the year, maybe not for Miami, but for Pittsburgh.
I think if Pittsburgh loses another series here, Joe, they gotta start looking toward next year.
And, and I g- and I gotta tell you, that's another team that's gonna have a lot of, interesting discussions in the off season.
I mean, when was the last time this, this team had any playoff baseball, you know?
That's correct.
And I'm, you know, looking at some of the It's, it's been a hot minute, there, that is for sure.
And I'm looking at some of these, teams, down the stretch.
You know, the na- the American League West and the American League Central, outside of Seattle, because Seattle's down the stretch schedule is brutal.
But the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros, I mean, the remaining games are all against teams well under 500.
The strength of schedule that they're gonna have, it, it's But I'd feel terrible.
I'm looking at Seattle.
Seattle's got, you know, everyone with a win, Yankees, Astros, Brewers, Cubs , Phillies.
Like, Seattle has got a gauntlet coming up.
And then you go to look at what the, you know, teams like, the Guardians, or the, or the Rangers, in fact, who have the Angels, the Athletics, the Nats, the Angels twice.
And their hardest series is gonna be against the Brewers at the end of the month.
So there is n- no reason to me why a team like the Texas Rangers or Houston, who also has a ridiculously easy schedule moving it down here, I, they Somebody's gotta make a move over the next two weeks in the American League West, do they not?
I think- Somebody's gotta win it this month.
I, I think so, but what I've, I'm seeing for the first time all season is no protection from the oddsmakers on Seattle.
I think, I think the oddsmakers- Crazy are giving up on Seattle.
I think they're letting them go.
Because this is the first time- Yep all year.
They're now, like, severe underdogs to win the division, and in their games coming up, too, they're dogs.
I, I think you just have to look at Seattle and just say, "They're not good."
Like, that's it.
Like, it, like if they couldn't- Yep get it going in their own park with Ken Griffey Jr. And Randy Johnson coming out, and Ichiro, and all these- Nope and they get swept at home?
Oof.
