How the AL West was won??? (Part 1)

with Z's post about the WC standing, I'd thought I'd start taking a semi-indepth, semi-regular look at my battle for the AL West. Heading into play this afternoon, Tacoma held a 3 game lead over Salem and a strong 10 game lead over Helena. Both Salem and Tacoma look strong for a WC spot at worst, though Trenton (and possible Helena) could throw a wrench into both team's postseason plans w/ a strong late season push.

Looking out at my future schedule, I noticed a 3 game home set vs Tacoma staring on 8/17. I figured it was put up or shut up time for Salem if they want to win this division and compete for the 2 and/or 3 seed and thus avoiding Powerhouse Montreal as long as possible in the playoffs. Tacoma is enterring their toughest stretch of the season, facing a 4 game set vs playoff bound Jacksonville, a 3 game set for Houston, 7 vs Philly and close out w/ 3 vs Montreal before heading into Salem. For those not up to doing the math, thats a combined 308 wins vs only 208 losses; considerring the 7 games vs philly compared to the 3 vs Houston, that's a 17 game stretch against an competitiong winning over 60% of their games.

Meanwhile, Salem gets a bit of a breather while resting some of their tiring stars facing the suddenly slumping Burlington squad for 4 nights, 3 @ Tampa Bay, 7 dates w/ Boston and 3 games @ Iowa City. Despite all but a 3 game set vs Boston coming on the road, that's 17 games vs teams that have won a combined 221 wins vs 295 losses (42.8%). Clearly the advantage goes to Salem, can they take advantage of it?

And not to completely dismiss Helena, though 10 games may be too tough to make up, during that same stretch they play a roughly .500 schedule. If they can catch fire, while the other 2 struggle, they could be looking to hit the final 2 weeks w/ a good shot to steal a division crown. Of course they also end their season w/ consecutive road dates @ Philly, @ Burlington, @ Tacoma and @ Salem. That may be too much for even Montreal to think about going much over .600 ball, making their task at hand that much harder.

I figure given our schedules, Salem needs to jump out to at worst a tie, and preferrable a couple game lead in the division by the time they meet up w/ Tacoma on the 17th. Things started out well w/ a Salem win and Tacoma lose this afternoon. I'll be back to update things more in the coming days.