I think, and I believe most on the site agree, that the race for the Western Division will be between the Angels and A's--as in recent years.  Looking at the schedule for the rest of the year, clearly the most interesting feature is the last 10 days of the year, where the Angels and A's face off in 7 games.  This is as it should be in baseball, and will likely be incredibly dramatic.

But,,,,who will come into those last 10 days with the lead--a 1, or 2 or 3 game lead?  If these two teams are very equivalent talent wise, the schedule may play a role in this, and there are very interesting aspects.

The biggest difference is that the A's have already finished their season with two good teams--Detroit and the Yankees.  And the A's did well, taking 6 of 9 from the Yankees, and spliting with Detroit.  So while we're done with those two, the Angels have 10 games left to play--7 with the Yankees and 3 with Detroit.  So the Angel's have some tough going ahead.

Other than this difference, the two teams play very similar schedules.  Roughly half of the remaining games are in the division, and the schedules are about the same.

Outside the divsion each team plays Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, and Cleveland about the same number of games (exception is the A's play Chicago 3 times and Cleveland 4, and the Angels do the reverse).  But no real difference here either.

It really boils down to the following:

                                   A's              Angels
Yankees                        0                    7
Detroit                          0                    3
Tampa Bay                    6                    0
Kansas City                   4                    2
Minnesota                     3                    0
Texas                           -                     1

(the Angels have one more game to play than the A's, and it's probably logical to record that as a Texas game if you review the schedule.)

Obviously there is an advantage in these 13 games, 22% of the rest of the season, and it goes to the A's.  But how much of an advantage.  One mathmatical approach would be to apply each of the above teams win % for the year against these games, and therefore determine how many they would win/or conversely and more importantly, how many the A's and Angels would win.  This approach would say the A's will go 7.4 wins and 5.6 losses in these 13 games, while the Angels would go 5.6 and 7.4--a swing of 1.8 games,,,let's say a 2 game swing for the A's.

Looking at other aspects of the schedule, the Angels have 33 home games and 25 away, but they've actually done slightly better on the road.  The A's are half home and half away, and have the same record so far this season home vs away.

On to some more qualitiative aspects of the schedule, the Angels have played two games of a 24 game schedule without a day off.  There is a particularly weird part of that schedule when in the middle of it they leave Annahe (well, where ever their home games are) to play one game in Chicago on August 7, then go to Cleveland, on to New York, then to Texas, and back to LA (whatever),,,,and all of this with no off days.  Certainly stretching a team generally, but moreso with some pitching injuries.
Meanwhile the A's get every Thursday off from now until September 21.  However they do finish the season with 17 straight games (and God willing a healthy Hardin).

Of course the schedule evens out over the season, but the A's are in somewhat better shape having played some of the tougher teams already, and doing well,,,,and now hopefully in position to benefit from that.

The better team, or maybe it's healthier team, will win in the end.  But if it comes down to two very even teams,,,,perhaps it will tilt our way.