A lot has been made about the Red Sox' schedule and its degree of difficulty since the All-Star break. They're coming home from an ultimately successful West Coast road trip and seven consecutive games with the Tigers and Indians await them.
Meanwhile, the Yankees opened the second half of the season with a nine-game homestand before their current road series with the lowly Indians.
The schedule has favored the Yanks since the break and they've made it count. Their lead in the AL East is now two games over the second-place Rays and seven games over the Red Sox. Things are going well in New York, but the tide could be changing soon.
Once the Yankees wrap up their series with the Indians, things get a little bit more difficult for the Bombers. They've got a weekend series coming up with a hungry Rays team who will no doubt see the series as a golden opportunity to shrink the deficit or even come away with the lead in the division.
From there, the Yankees head home for a three-game set with the Blue Jays. Once that is over, however, the Yankees get set to host the Red Sox, who will be coming off of their seven-game stretch with the Tigers (who are beaten up right now) and the Indians (who have gotten beaten up all year).
There's a very good chance that the Yankees will be facing a hot Red Sox team. The Sox are starting to finally get healthy, and they're heading home with some momentum — momentum they haven't had in awhile.
The gauntlet doesn't end there either for the Yankees. After their series with the Red Sox, the Bombers head out for a six-game road trip. They'll head to Arlington first for two with the Rangers, the same Rangers team that gave the Red Sox fits right after the All-Star break.
That short road trip concludes with four in Kansas City. But like Texas, it's never fun to play in Kansas City this time of year, thanks to the oppressive heat.
The Yankees have done their job to build their lead in the division up to this point. But if they don't watch out, these next few weeks could be a stretch of baseball that they look back on with regret in the fall.
