First things first -- let's take all the teams the Yankees are chasing out of the way, and focus on the Yankees getting their 70th win, tonight. Get to nine games over .500. You want them to join the top four teams on top of them in the wild card. They need to get to that 70th-win club.
The Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles are off, and the Oakland Athletics are playing tonight, against the Detroit Tigers. Which means the Yankees can be the only team out of Cleveland and Baltimore to gain ground on Oakland.
With the Indians and Orioles having an off-night, it gives the Yanks more of an importance to win this game and get to 70 wins, with those teams not playing tonight.
INDIANS: Go on the road to meet the Atlanta Braves on the road, for a three-game set. It could go either way. The Indians can sweep the Braves, or the Braves can sweep the Indians. But what you have to like from a Yankee fan's perspective is that the Braves are fifth-teen games over .500 and first place in the N.L East. Cleveland aren't playing the Miami Marlins, here.
ORIOLES: Interesting. They going to Fenway Park to face the Boston Red Sox, in a three-game set. That means, if the Yankees win games in Toronto this week, they will gain games from the Oriole-Red Sox series.
But what I find interesting, is, if the Orioles lose two out of three at Fenway, and the Yankees -- lets say -- sweep the Blue Jays at Toronto, the Yankees have a chance to really do damage to the Oriole season, when they face them at home, this weekend. Not saying the Orioles are done; far-from it. They're real team. But they could lose two out of three at Boston and the Yankees can sweep Toronto, moving New York to pass Baltimore in the wild card standings.
That's why this week could be a big week for the Yankees, if they win their games; that's all they have to do this week. Win. Win your games, and they could get closer to Oakland in the wild card, and maybe, get closer to Boston in the A.L East.
Yanks have the captain, Derek Jeter, returning tonight at Toronto. And for the first time this season, the Yankees will have their closest to an 'A' lineup. The only everyday player they're missing is Mark Teixeira.
