Oakland Athletics: 6 things to know about the 2020 schedule

6. There will be easier opponents down the stretch

The one positive that comes with having a loaded April schedule and having to face the perennial World Series favorites so often is that it sets up for an easier path down the stretch.

Assuming that we don’t see any major splashes that catapult the Royals or the Rangers into any sort of role of being a serious threat for the wild card, the last series of the year against any team likely in the playoff mix will be August 25 and 26 against the Atlanta Braves.

After that, it’s a mix of Royals, Rangers, White Sox, Blue Jays, and Angels.

Sure, there are plenty of moving parts and a lot can happen between now and a year from now. But it will certainly be a relief for the A’s if they’re coming down to the wire and know they can take care of business by beating up on teams that very well could have already mailed it in for the season at that point.

The realistic wild-card contenders that the A’s would be competing against would be battling amongst themselves while the A’s face teams that are out of it. The only negative in the way that the schedule is laid out is that Oakland will have their last 32 games in just 34 days.

The A’s will need to make sure to capitalize on these games against teams that may be at the point of letting the kids from Triple-A play.

We’ve seen how important these games can be — even still feeling the effects this year of losing the season series with back to back sweeps by the Toronto Blue Jays.

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If the A’s aren’t able to make the playoffs this year, we’ll undoubtedly be looking back to those two series in the early part of the season. At the end of the day, the schedule is lined up with the same principles in place every year.

Since 1998, the 162-game season is made up of 19 games against each of the divisional opponents, a total of 66 games against other divisions within the same league, and 20 interleague games against an annually rotating division each year.

Ultimately, the goal is to limit tough stretches of travel and generate revenue for the league. But by looking between the lines, we might have a little glimpse of what the goals heading into the season might be.

For the Athletics next year, they’ll need to come into Spring Training with a clear understanding that the first few months might be make-or-break.

Growing pains during that stretch of the season might make for an uphill battle for the rest of the season. The earlier that they can harness that magic, the better off they’ll be.

Here’s to hoping they can discover it down the stretch of 2019.