New York Yankees Remaining Schedule and Their Wild Card Chances

Most New York Yankees fans realize that it is going to take some doing to overhaul the Boston Red Sox in the American League East, so they have set their sights on a wild card berth. Their remaining schedule will obviously figure heavily into whether or not the Yankees are successful in catching and passing the only team now between them and that prize, the surprising Seattle Mariners. However, the Yankees remaining schedule seems to favor New York in this endeavor, as they will be playing the majority of their contests against sub .500 clubs, and have three games head-to-head with those very Mariners, at Yankee Stadium no less.

New York will have no excuses if they do not grab a wild card, as they have their own destiny in their hands. Besides the three games against Seattle in New York on September, they are playing some awful squads virtually bereft of anything to play for except pride, such as the Devil Rays, Orioles, and Royals. The Yankees schedule has them at home for sixteen tilts and on the road for fifteen. There are pitfalls though, as they have to finish the season series against Boston, which is obviously no picnic; those half dozen games will be instrumental to the Yankees playoff chances. Here is a look at the remaining New York Yankees schedule, beginning on August 28th.

Boston- New York has six contests left with their bitter enemies, and Boston would love nothing more than to leave New York in the dust for good in the division race while damaging their wild-card status. The first three of these games are in New York on August 28th-30th with the other trio in Beantown on September 14th through the 16th. Boston is 7-5 against New York so far this season, but the Yankees are 4-2 in the last six contests after losing five of the first six.

Baltimore- The Orioles have been pathetic lately, losers of six in a row as of this writing and embarrassed across the entire baseball world after their 30-3 humbling at the hands of the Rangers. But the Orioles have an 8-5 standard against New York in 2007, quite possibly the only highlight of a campaign that sees them at 58-71 and sliding towards another season of being irrelevant. Cy Young candidate Erik Bedard lost for the first time in ten weeks in his last outing versus the Twins; he is the only starter that New York fans should worry about facing. Baltimore comes to the Stadium for games on September 17th, 18th, and 19th and then the Bronx Bombers finish the season in the Charm City with three games September 28th through the 30th.

Tampa Bay- The lowly Devil Rays are their usual terrible selves this year, with perhaps the worst bullpen in the history of the sport. Scott Kazmir and James Shileds are the only two pitchers on the club that anybody would want, as the rest of the staff is truly garbage. Tampa Bay is a respectable 5-7 in their games with the Yankees this year, with three in New York left for the last day of August through the second of September and three more down in rat-infested Tropicana Field September 25th through the 27th.

Toronto- The Blue Jays are a .500 club, 39-27 at home and 26-38 on the road. There has been bad blood between them and New York ever since Alex Rodriguez's controversial base-running play when he supposedly distracted a rookie infielder on a dropped pop-up back earlier in the season. Toronto has Roy Halladay, who often gives the Yankees troubles, but the rest of the pitching is marginal, and nobody in the lineup is having anything resembling a great year. New York holds the season series edge over the Blue Jays, only by a 6-5 margin, with three in Toronto scheduled for the 11th, 12th, and 13th of September and four huge home games with the Jays September 21st through the 24th.

Kansas City- New York has handled the Royals to the tune of a 6-1 standard in 2007, but Kansas City will be playing to stay out of the AL Central cellar, where currently the Black Sox, I mean White Sox, are residing. KC has an impotent bunch of hitters, with Emil Brown the leading RBI man on the team with 53. The hurlers are not as bad as one might think, with all of the starters capable of pitching a decent game. New York begins a nine game road trip with three in Kansas City on September 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Seattle- The three games New York plays with the Mariners on September 3rd, 4th, and 5th will be crucial, as they trail Seattle by two games in the wild card hunt. Winners of four of the seven the teams have played this season, Seattle is a .500 team away from Safeco Field. Their balanced attack has nine players with at least 51 runs batted in, their bullpen is one of the game's best, but their starters do not strike fear into opposing lineups. Seattle has series upcoming in September with the Angels, Detroit, Cleveland, Texas, Oakland, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. One scenario that Yankee rooters would love to see transpire is for the Mariners to actually win the AL West and knock the irksome Angels from the mix, but that would be wanting your cake and then eating it too.