2011 Tampa Bay Rays Schedule

Turning the calendar from January to February is a fantastic thing.  February brings some wonderful events: we get to have a rodent play weatherman; buy overpriced flowers and other random presents for our loved ones; and most importantly SPRING TRAINING FINALLY BEGINS! With the sense of the beginning of the season actually near, I spent some time staring at the Rays 2011 schedule today.  Obviously, certain things are known, like 18 games against our friends in Boston and NY.  But I was focusing on some of the details, like when were our west coast swings?  What was the longest road trip that Maddon could break out a themed event?  Were any months looking easier or harder?  And most importantly, which games was I going to plan on going to. 

As meaningless as it is (but as human nature loves to do), I decided to break the season into months to see if there were any noteworthy trends.  I then took a look at the opponents 2010 final records as well as a 2011 projection (I used Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA system, R/A to Jason Collette) to get a sense of the difficulty of the schedule.  Here's what we have:

2010 Win % is simply the average for that month of the opponents final win%.  For 2010 H/R Win % I took the home or road win % for the opponent and used that record (So if we play the O's at home, their 29-52 road record would be reflected).  The others should be pretty self explanatory.

The first thing that jumped out was the summer road trips, and that July could get really ugly with some tough competition and a two month stretch with spending a lot of time away from the Trop.  Ohh and the home games in July; St. Louis, Boston and NYY.  With the first road trip to Minn & NYY and finishing the month at KC, Oak & Sea.

The good news is, after a gruelling summer living out of a suitcase, the Rays get some reprieve is August, with a presumably lighter schedule and at the very least some home cooking.  While the Rays get the benefit of home field advantage in September, the competition will be tough. As usual, it is ALE heavy, with the only non-division series coming against the Rangers.  And if the Rays are still in the hunt come September 26th, they get a three game home set against the Yanks to make the last push.

Some other random/interesting notes:

April 11th is the first time the Rays play Boston (at Fenway)

We play Baltimore 9 times before playing the Yanks (5/16)

For both Texas and LAA we have 5 home games and 3 road games (woohoo!)

SEA we have 3 home games and 7 away (woohoo, wait what?)

The summer interleague stretch has us playing - FL, @MIL, @Hou, Cin, StL

So what are your thoughts on the schedule?  Planning on making any road trips?  For me, Milwaukee in late June is pretty appealing.  That and I keep saying I'm going to plan a Seattle trip some time around a Rays game, guess I have a few chances this year.