Breaking down the Orioles' 2010 Schedule

I have examined the Orioles schedule this year and I can say with certainty that it is whack. In their first 28 games, the Orioles play 21 against the AL East with TWELVE consecutive games against the Yankees and Red Sox. That has disaster potential, frankly. The Orioles might be so far back in the standings on May 5th that all positive energy will already be gone.

Because the scheduling gods like to mess with the Orioles even more, they open up the month of June with nine more straight games against the Red Sox and Yankees. Thankfully that's followed by everyone's favorite time of year: interleague! This year the Orioles will face the Mets, Marlins, and Nationals at home and the Giants, Padres, and Nationals on the road. I advise the O's to watch out for Aubrey Huff in that Giants series; he just loves to demolish his former teams. If the O's are going to climb out of the hole they'll surely find themselves in on June 10th, interleague play seems like a pretty decent way to get there.

For those of you who like to make the trip to see the O's play the Yankees/Red Sox (or who, like me, prefer to avoid Camden Yards on those days), there are only three weekend series against those two teams this year. Boston will be in town the weekends of April 30th to May 2 and June 4-6 and the Yankees will play in Baltimore September 17-19. The other three series against the teams will be played mid-week and two will be during the school year (The Red Sox play 31 Aug - 2 Sept, I'm not sure when school starts in Northern Virginia Massachusetts)

Except for interleague and a stretch in of games in May between the Yankees/Red Sox extravaganzas, the schedule looks pretty daunting. I guess that'll happen when you're one of the worst teams in baseball and play in one of the best divisions.

A balanced schedule, a balanced schedule, my kingdom for a balanced schedule!