Red Sox Play 13 Of First 23 Games Against MFY & Rays

Tom Verducci (Sports Illustrated) says the Red Sox are the team most likely to get off to a slow start in 2020's abbreviated season.

With each of the 30 teams playing against only the other four teams in its own division and the teams in the other league's corresponding division, the strength of schedules are wildly different.

Verducci looks at two NL Wild Card contenders as an example. The Phillies play 38 games (including 20 road games) against teams that had winning records in 2019, while the Diamondbacks will play 20 and 8 such games, respectively.

The Red Sox begin the two-month schedule with 13 of their first 23 games against the Yankees and Rays. That's more than one-third of the season (38%)!

The Yankees have the easiest schedule down the stretch, according to Verducci, with 20 of their final 23 games against the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Marlins (each of whom lost 95+ games last year).

I bought a physical (non-MLB Season Preview) copy of SI for the first time in I-Don't-Know-How-Long. The July issue includes a 23-page (!) epistolary novella entitled "Letters From The Hub", written by Verducci. He had been researching Silk O'Loughlin, an umpire who died in the influenza epidemic of 1918, during the initial months of the current pandemic, when his attention strayed to sportswriter Edward Martin.

The story is framed as a series of letters from one baseball scribe to another, but the information included, about Martin's life and Boston baseball before and during the Great War and the worldwide influenza outbreak, is true.

AL East: Best And Worst 60-Game Stretches, Last Four Seasons
                 2019            2018            2017            2016
              Best  Worst     Best  Worst     Best  Worst     Best  Worst
Red Sox      36-24  28-32    45-15  35-25    38-22  32-28    38-22  29-31
Yankees      42-18  37-23    44-16  32-28    38-22  26-34    36-24  28-32
Rays         40-20  30-30    39-21  27-33    35-25  25-35    30-30  18-42
Blue Jays    29-31  19-41    29-31  24-36    33-27  26-34    38-22  30-30
Orioles      24-36  14-46    19-41  15-45    33-27  21-39    36-24  28-32
  
Best And Worst 60-Game Stretches, Recent World Champions Seasons
         Best  Worst
2004 -  42-18  29-31
2007 -  40-20  32-28
2013 -  38-22  33-27
2018 -  45-15  35-25
  
Best 60-Game Stretches In MLB
2019 - 43-17    (Dodgers, Astros, Cleveland)
2018 - 44-16    (Red Sox, Athletics, Yankees)
2017 - 51- 9    (Dodgers)
2016 - 42-17-1  (Cubs); 42-18 (Cubs, Giants)
2015 - 43-17    (Blue Jays)
2014 - 41-19    (Angels, Orioles)
2013 - 47-13    (Dodgers)