2010 and the AL Central: August

Ah, August. The last hurrah before school starts again. It’s usually a busy month for me (my birthday, my annual trip to Comerica Park, etc). This is the month where the grind of the season starts to wear on some teams. Who will be the one to collapse in August 2010? Hopefully not Detroit.

Tigers

August 2 (Mon): Off-day
August 3-5 (Tue-Thu): vs. Chicago White Sox (3)
August 6-8 (Fri-Sun): vs. Los Angeles Angels (3)
August 9-11 (Mon-Wed): vs. Tampa Bay Rays (3)
August 12 (Thu): Off-day
August 13-15 (Fri-Sun): @ Chicago White Sox (3)
August 16-19 (Mon-Thu): @ New York Yankees (4)
August 20-22 (Fri-Sun): vs. Cleveland Indians (3)
August 23-25 (Mon-Wed): vs. Kansas City Royals (3)
August 26-29 (Thu-Sun): @ Toronto Blue Jays (4)
August 30 (Mon): Off-day
August 31-September 2 (Tue-Thu): @ Minnesota Twins (3)

The Tigers begin August with a Monday off-day before starting a nine-game homestand that’ll likely prove to be a challenging one. The White Sox come a-calling on my birthday, and the last time that happened, it was 2007 and it didn’t go so well (That was the first Tigers game I ever went to. They lost 7-4, three White Sox hit home runs and it was the only time I ever got to see Pudge play in person. The Tigers tend to lose on my birthday, although they won in 2009). After the White Sox depart, the Tigers will host the Angels and then the Rays. They have an off-day on the 12th, after which they’ll find themselves in a stretch of seventeen games in a row, beginning with a difficult seven-game road trip to U.S. Cellular Field and Yankee Stadium (and remember, the Yankees tend to be a much better second-half team). They then return home for three against the Indians (another team that usually does better in the second half) and three against the Royals (who tend to be a pain in the ass at the most inconvenient of times). They finish August on the road. Specifically, it’s a ten-game, three-city road trip that begins in Toronto (Wow, we go there in August and not April? That’s unheard of). The Tigers wrap up August in Minnesota. In recent history, August has generally not been kind to the Tigers. That was not really the case in 2009, as they finished the month 16-13. Hopefully that starts a new trend.
Home games: 15
Road games: 14
Detroit’s 2009 record against opposition: 53-50
Combined 2009 winning percentage of opponents: .505

White Sox

August 2 (Mon): Off-day
August 3-5 (Tue-Thu): @ Detroit Tigers (3)
August 6-9 (Fri-Mon): @ Baltimore Orioles (4)
August 10-12 (Tue-Thu): vs. Minnesota Twins (3)
August 13-15 (Fri-Sun): vs. Detroit Tigers (3)
August 16 (Mon): Off-day
August 17-19 (Tue-Thu): @ Minnesota Twins (3)
August 20-22 (Fri-Sun): @ Kansas City Royals (3)
August 23 (Mon): Off-day
August 24-26 (Tue-Thu): vs. Baltimore Orioles (3)
August 27-29 (Fri-Sun): vs. New York Yankees (3)
August 30-September 1 (Mon-Wed): @ Cleveland Indians (3)

August killed the White Sox in 2009. They went 11-17, culminating in a hellish road trip to Boston, New York, and Minneapolis that completely took them out of contention. August 2010 gives them a fair amount of the East and a lot of the Central. They begin in Detroit for three before heading to Baltimore. I should point out that August features the second of only two long stretches with no break for the entire season for the White Sox (The schedule was kind to them in that regard). They return home on the 10th to face the Twins, followed by the Tigers. They’ll see Minnesota again on their next road trip, as well as Kansas City. After their off-day on the 23rd, they’ll have a six-game homestand that features the Orioles and the Yankees. The White Sox finish up August in Cleveland with three games against the Indians. The Sox have slightly more road games than home games in August, but they’ll be seeing a lot of the same teams twice, and they have the easiest schedule of the Central in terms of winning percentage.
Home games: 12
Road games: 15
Chicago’s 2009 record against opposition: 41-47
Combined 2009 winning percentage of opponents: .483

Indians

August 2-5 (Mon-Thu): @ Boston Red Sox (4)
August 6-8 (Fri-Sun): vs. Minnesota Twins (3)
August 9 (Mon): Off-day
August 10-12 (Tue-Thu): vs. Baltimore Orioles (3)
August 13-15 (Fri-Sun): vs. Seattle Mariners (3)
August 16 (Mon): Off-day
August 17-19 (Tue-Thu): @ Kansas City Royals (3)
August 20-22 (Fri-Sun): @ Detroit Tigers (3)
August 23 (Mon): Off-day
August 24-26 (Tue-Thu): vs. Oakland Athletics (3)
August 27-29 (Fri-Sun): vs. Kansas City Royals (3)
August 30-September 1 (Mon-Wed): vs. Chicago White Sox (3)

The Indians will be at Fenway Park for four games to begin August. They’ll then return home for a nine-game homestand against the Twins, Orioles, and Mariners. Following the off-day on the 16th, they’ll head out on the road, visiting Kansas City and Detroit. They have another off-day on the 23rd, followed by a nine-game homestand against the A’s, Royals, and White Sox that’ll take them right into September. The Indians have a TON of home games in August, and as I said earlier, the Indians tend to be a better second-half team (even if they are out of contention at this point, these two facts make them a dangerous team). In 2007, they ran away with the Central crown after spending most of the first half in a tight back-and-forth battle with the Tigers. In 2008, they recovered from an awful first half (during which last place seemed all but assured) to finish the season in third place at exactly 81-81. It looked like they were going to do the same in 2009. After going 12-12 in July, they went 15-12 in August (the only month they had that was north of .500). Then September came, but that’s a story better suited for next time.
Home games: 18
Road games 10
Cleveland’s 2009 record against opposition: 45-60
Combined 2009 winning percentage of opponents: .490

Twins

August 2-5 (Mon-Thu): @ Tampa Bay Rays (4)
August 6-8 (Fri-Sun): @ Cleveland Indians (3)
August 9 (Mon): Off-day
August 10-12 (Tue-Thu): @ Chicago White Sox (3)
August 13-15 (Fri-Sun): vs. Oakland Athletics (3)
August 16 (Mon): Off-day
August 17-19 (Tue-Thu): vs. Chicago White Sox (3)
August 20-22 (Fri-Sun): vs. Los Angeles Angels (3)
August 23-26 (Mon-Thu): @ Texas Rangers (4)
August 27-29 (Fri-Sun): @ Seattle Mariners (3)
August 30 (Mon): Off-day
August 31-September 2 (Tue-Thu): vs. Detroit Tigers (3)

The Twinkies will be on the road to start off August (a ten-game, three-city road trip, to be exact). After a four-game series at the Trop, they head on up to Progressive Field for three, and finish up at the Cell. They then return home for nine. Their homestand features visits from the A’s, White Sox, and Angels. After long stays both on the road and at home, their next road trip is a bit shorter (seven games) and features visits to Arlington and Seattle. The end of August marks the beginning of another nine-game homestand for the Twins (most of which will be in September). We’ll be the first opponent. As you can see, the Twins will be on the road a lot in August and it’s a difficult schedule in terms of the teams they’re facing, but they are also teams that they did well against in 2009.
Home games: 12
Road games: 17
Minnesota’s combined 2009 record against opposition: 51-45
Combined 2009 winning percentage of opponents: .507

Royals
August 2-4 (Mon-Wed): @ Oakland Athletics (3)
August 5 (Thu): Off-day
August 6-8 (Fri-Sun): @ Seattle Mariners (3)
August 9-11 (Mon-Wed): @ Los Angeles Angels (3)
August 12-15 (Thu-Sun): vs. New York Yankees (4)
August 16 (Mon): Off-day
August 17-19 (Tue-Thu): vs. Cleveland Indians (3)
August 20-22 (Fri-Sun): vs. Chicago White Sox (3)
August 23-25 (Mon-Wed): @ Detroit Tigers (3)
August 26 (Thu): Off-day
August 27-29 (Fri-Sun): @ Cleveland Indians (3)
August 30-September 1 (Mon-Wed): vs. Texas Rangers (3)

The Royals begin August with a nine-game west coast swing. Their series with the A’s to kick off the month marks the end of a 20-game stretch with no off-day. They then visit Seattle and Anaheim before coming back to KC for a ten-game homestand against the Yankees, Indians, and White Sox (August features a lot of the West and a lot of the Central for the Royals). This is followed up by a six-game road trip to Detroit and Cleveland. They finish up the month at home with a three-game series against the Rangers. This’ll be a challenging month for the Royals. They’ll be on the road slightly more than at home, but it includes a long west coast trip and series against several teams that are expected to be in the playoff chase. Not surprisingly, the Royals are forecasted to have the most difficult August schedule of the AL Central teams.
Home games: 13
Road games: 15
Kansas City’s combined 2009 record against opposition: 39-54
Combined 2009 winning percentage of opponents: .522