Buster Olney, in March, ranked the hardest AL early season schedules (roughly the first 40 games). ( http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=9568 ) ------------------- 3. Minnesota Twins Games against teams that had records over .500 in 2014: 30 of their first 40. Home/road: 20 of their first 40 are at home. Noteworthy: Not only do the Twins have their share of in-division games against rivals from the AL Central early, but they also have a four-game series against Oakland and a two-game series against the Pirates. Before the All-Star break, the Twins will see the Tigers in 13 games and the Royals in 13 games. Good luck with that. -------------- This early, I think it's fair to consider teams that were supposed to be good as still making a schedule "hard" even though they aren't playing that way currently. Do you think the Oakland fans are bemoaning their "hard" schedule because they've had to play the Twins 7 games? No. In the same vain we shouldn't be downgrading the strength of our schedule just because Oakland, Seattle, and Cleveland haven't looked like the teams people thought they were going to be.