Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Eternal Optimism of a Simple Mind

Everyone knows that I always lean toward the pessimistic side, but today I've turned over a new leaf. Today I present to you the most optimistic outcome of the upcoming 2 weeks that I can possibly fathom while staying within the realm of reality.

I've gone through the schedules for Boston, New York, and of course Tampa for a span of the next 14 games and worked out what I believe could be the possible outcome of each game and have calculated to see where the pieces fall as of May 14th.

TAMPA BAY

Boston

W

Boston

W

Boston

L

Boston

W

Baltimore

W

Baltimore

W

@New York

L

@New York

W

@Boston

W

@Boston

L

@Boston

L

@Baltimore

W

@Baltimore

L

Cleveland

W

Record from 4/30- 5/14

9-5

Overall Record as of May 14th

17-18


BOSTON

@Tampa Bay

L

@Tampa Bay

L

@Tampa Bay

W

@Tampa Bay

L

@New York

W

@New York

L

Cleveland

W

Cleveland

L

Tampa Bay

L

Tampa Bay

W

Tampa Bay

W

LAA

W

LAA

L

LAA

L

Record from 4/30- 5/14

6-8

Overall Record as of May 14th

19-15


NEW YORK

LAA

W

LAA

L

LAA

W

LAA

L

Boston

L

Boston

W

Tampa Bay

L

Tampa Bay

W

@Baltimore

L

@Baltimore

W

@Baltimore

W

@Toronto

L

@Toronto

W

@Toronto

L

Record from 4/30- 5/14

7-7

Overall Record as of May 14th

18-16*


If this were to hold true then 2 weeks from tomorrow the Rays would only trail the Red Sox by 3.5 games, while trailing the Yankees by 1.5 games.

So, despite all the pessimism and uproar of the first 3 weeks of the season, if this highly plausible outcome were to actually occur the Rays would find themselves right back in the hunt as they headed into the end of May. Of course if the Rays continue their inconsistent play and only win 4 or 5 of those 14 games then they might as well start shaking things up in the lineup because their hopes will be fading fast. Carl Crawford fast, no Usain Bolt fast.

*The May 3rd Yankees v. Angels game (which I predicted as a NY loss) was postponed, so I've adjusted their record accordingly by taking away one loss from my projected standings as of May 14th.

5 comments:

Michael Weber said...

All it takes is a good series against the Red Sox and the Rays can easily craw back into this. With the weighted schedule, games against the Mariners, A's, and Twins don't count nearly as much as this weekend series against Boston. If they can take 3 of 4... we'll all be singing a new tune by next week. We know the 2009 Rays can beat the Red Sox, let's just hope they do it.

DirtbagFan said...

exactly. that's the point i was trying to make to a "t".

And if you notice, i did give the Rays 3 out of 4 v. boston this weekend. we'll see. Heaven help us if they lose 3 out of 4 though. If that's the case i'll be back to my usual pessimism faster than... faster than... something really fast.

Dustin Fridkin said...

If this dream scenario actually comes to pass, I will be singing and dancing in the streets of New York. Maybe it could be even better than this. Maybe, just maybe, a team that slumps together also gets hot together, and becomes invincible. I remember a few impressive winning streaks in years past. One or two of those sometime real soon--why not start it tonight?--would be very good.

Michael Weber said...

It has to begin tonight against Boston. The Red Sox will be looking to put the Rays out of their misery nice and early this year. The Rays have to man up and keep that from happening.

DirtbagFan said...

yep.