The Magic of the 162-Game-Schedule
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by user Ross K.
One of the things I love about MLB is the 162 game schedule. The ebbs and flows of the long season bring about all kinds of interesting stories and show a team's strengths and weaknesses like no other sport. The length of the 162-game-schedule can show a team - and their fans - whether or not there is hope for now and hope for the future.
For example, take the last two weeks from the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Kansas City Royals.
The Cleveland Indians have been a disappointment all year. With the exception of a small run a few weeks before the All-Star game, they've been pretty mediocre the whole season through. But that small run and the last two weeks have shown the team and us fans that there exciting things could happen this year.
Right now the Indians are playing with a roster of their six young, core players and a bunch of AAA guys. In fact the team has said they aren't planning on calling anyone up in September because everyone is already up. But in the last two weeks they had a chance to sweep the Red Sox in a four game series (they won two and lost two in the 9th thanks to a AAA bullpen). Then they were swept by the best team in baseball. After that they took two out of three from the Los Angeles Angels and have won their first three games (including yesterday's double header) in a four game series with Kansas City.
Normally, winning three in a row against KC isn't a big deal. But the Royals, who have been bottom dwellers this season and for years before, came to Cleveland after sweeping the Red Sox in a three game series.
Normally, winning three in a row against the Red Sox is a huge deal - especially for Kansas City - except the Red Sox came into that series losing two out of three to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and almost getting swept in four by the Tribe as mentioned above. The Red Sox have now turned things around a bit and have beat the Baltimore Orioles the last two nights.
The Devil Rays, in case you are wondering, are 3-7 in their last ten including those two wins against Boston (the third coming against the Detroit Tigers).
So what do these two weeks mean? Nothing of much significance for the Indians and Royals, but possibly everything to the Red Sox.
For the former it means this year's Indians and Royals have the ability to beat this year's Red Sox in a series. (Yes, I know the Indians and Red Sox split, but had Bob Wickman still been in a Tribe uniform the Indians most likely would have won at least one if not two more games.)
It tells these teams - and their fans - that if the Indians and Royals are playing at their best and add some more significant pieces to their team they should be able to contend with Boston next year when Boston is playing at their best, because in these series, Boston hasn't been at their best. They're missing some key players due to injuries.
For the Sox, it could mean everything because the Yankees are on a surge and it was not a point where they could afford to lose to teams like the Royals, Indians and Devil Rays.
That's the magic of the 162-game-schedule: two weeks can mean nothing to some teams and everything to another. Team surges and team slumps can make or break your season a season for better or worse.
Or they can mean nothing much at all.
Date
Sun 08/13/06, 5:51 am EST
