The Mets have the easiest remaining schedule down the stretch
As if New York Mets fans needed any more reason to get excited.
After a thrilling weekend sweep of the Nationals and then a 12-1 drubbing of the Marlins on Monday, the Mets now have first place in the NL East all to themselves.
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]
Need another reason to buy into the Mets mania? New York has the easiest remaining schedule in MLB.
The Wall Street Journal examined the strength of schedule for every team in the majors over the next two months of baseball and found that the Mets only have 14 games left against teams currently above .500. But before everyone gets too out of control, Washington has the second easiest run-in with their opponents combining for a lowly .470 winning percentage. This back-and-forth is far from over and could very well be decided in the six games the two teams still have to play head-to-head.
Whichever team doesn’t take the division crown will be hoping their rivals in the wild-card race falter down the stretch. The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs are a few games in front right now, but the Giants have the second most diffcult slate of games from now until the beginning of October and the Cubs also have a remaining schedule above .500
San Francisco’s tough stretch is also good news for the Dodgers, who are three games up in the NL West.
[ELSEWHERE: Yep, the Mets are back in sole possession of first place.]
Other notable strength of schedule observations: the AL East-leading Yankees (.490 opponent winning percentage) have an advantage over the Blue Jays (.499) and Orioles (.507) and the AL West-leading Astros (.495) hold a slight edge over the Angels (.501).
Of course, looking at the upcoming schedule doesn’t take into account injuries or even pitching matchups. Games are won and lost on the field, not on paper, and a lot can change in baseball over the span of two months.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
