Some Fun Facts

I just heard this on XM and I had to pass it along. It's something that I failed to realize but it tells volumes about the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox are currently 69-56. They had a record of 16-2 during interleague play. If you take away interleague play and look at the Sox record against just the AL, the core of their opponents, the Sox are 53-54. The Sox are less than .500 against the AL. If you remove their 11-1 record against Baltimore, the Sox are 42-53 against the rest of the league. The Sox currently have the 6th highest winning percentage in the AL. If you remove interleague play, they drop to the 9th best team in the AL, ahead of Baltimore, Tampa, Cleveland, KC and Seattle. Does that put into perspective how bad the Sox are? Wow. I have to laugh. Incidentally, the team with the best record in the AL if you remove interleague play is, you guessed it, the New York Yankees.
If you look at head-to-head records against the AL, the Sox have a winning record against Baltimore (11-1), the White Sox (2-1), Seattle (4-3), Tampa (9-8) and Texas (5-4). The White Sox and the Rangers are above .500 on the season. The only teams that have a winning record against the Yankees are the Angels (3-4), the Twins (1-2) and the A's (3-6). Those 3 teams are all above .500. The Sox have games left with Chicago, Tampa, and Seattle. It's possible that they'll drop that they end up with losing records against those teams.
Against AL teams above .500, the Sox are 23-35. That's less than .400. Add in the NL and they improve slightly to 26-35, a winning percentage of .426. Against AL teams above .500, the Yankees are 39-27 (.591). Add in the NL, and they move to 42-30 (.583). Add those totals up and you'll see that the Yankees have played 72 games against teams better than .500. The Sox? Only 61. The Yankees have played 11 more games against tougher opponents than the Red Sox. Eleven! The Sox have 37 games left, 23 of which are against teams above .500. The Yanks have 38 games left, with 19 being against teams above .500. The home stretch favors the Yankees. But in the end, the Yanks will have played 7 games more than the Sox against teams over .500. 6 of which were split between the Angels and the Mets. That's a lot when you think about it. So not only will the Yankees have a better record than the Sox at year's end, but they'll have played the tougher schedule.
Man, if the Sox want to make the post-season, they are going to have to go on an incredible run and play better than they have all year. Let's face it, they aren't that good. I would go as far as saying they're average and definitely not as good as their record. But the games aren't played on paper, and their record is their record.
Shhh, do you hear that? No? I hear it. I heard it yesterday but it's a little louder today. Can't place the tune? It's taps. You know? The trumpet song they play in the military to honor the dead. Hear it now? Well, if you can't, it's going to get louder and louder with each passing day. If you listen close, you should be able to pick it up.
J-Boogie