Marking Time

The Rockies after 47 games worked their way to a 3-way tie in the NL West standings with the Giants, D-Backs and Rockies all having identical 26-21 records.

Four weeks ago on April 25th, the Rockies held a slim 1 game lead over both teams at 14-8 vs. 13-9.   Which means over the past 4 weeks all 3 teams have played .500 baseball.  (Rockies 12-13; Giants/D-Backs 13-12).

One or more of the teams will break away soon.  Which one?  And could the Padres get into the mix?

Let's start with the D-Backs:  Coming off a 6 game road trip they head home for 4 days/5 games against the Padres and Texas, before heading  to Texas, Chicago and St. Louis.   All in All  they play 15 of their next 23 on the Road.

The Giants meanwhile get to stay home for another week, hosting the Rockies and then playing 4 games against Oakland 2A/2H followed by a 3 game road trip to St. Louis, home for two against Toronto, followed by a 9 game road trip to Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta.   Altogether:  7 home 14 away.

Meanwhile the Rockies have a 5 game road trip to SF, and Houston, 5 games at home against Houston, and  LA, A road "trip" to Cincy for 3 and then a 10 game home stand.  15 H/8 A

In Summary, the Rockies  have the same amount of home games over the next 3.5 weeks that Arizona and San Francisco have combined.   The Rockies are the team that has the advantage for a few weeks at least.

Next week introduces Rivalry Week where for the first time all 30 MLB teams will play interleague games at the same time with home and home 2 game sets with their "Natural" Rival.  For the Giants they stay home and play Oakland, While the D-Backs take on Texas and the Rockies get the Astros.   This is really the only major diversion from a balanced schedule with one team.   This year I would rather play the Astros at 20 games under .500 than the A's or the Rangers who are at the top of the AL West.