On-Deck

On the Horizon - July 2 - July 8

One of the new features that we'll be bringing you each week will involve each team's upcoming schedule. This can be a major boost for those of you who keep a flex spot on your roster so that you can pick up players and use them as plug and play options. By knowing not only who they'll be facing, but also where they'll be facing them, this should give you some insight as to who the hot pickups for next week might be a few extra days in advance.

Home games are listed in CAPS, while the number in parentheses shows how many games they'll be playing each team.

Favorable

Baltimore Orioles: Chicago White Sox (4), Texas (3) - Ordinarily when a team that plays in a neutral hitter's park is on the road all week, that's a bad thing. Not so for the Orioles this time, though. They'll head to two of the top five power parks in all of baseball, and the only starters that should worry them are Mark Buehrle and Javy Vazquez.

Chicago White Sox: BALTIMORE (4), MINNESOTA (4) - Not only do they play eight home games (featuring a doubleheader against Minnesota Friday), they'll also avoid Johan Santana. The only top starter the White Sox will face all week is major league strikeout leader Erik Bedard.

Kansas City Royals: SEATTLE (3), TAMPA BAY (3) - 2 awful pitching staffs + 1 great hitter's park = Great week. Look for Mark Teahen, John Buck, and Alex Gordon to rake this week.

Texas Rangers: Boston (1), LOS ANGELES ANGELS (3), BALTIMORE (3) - Having six of their seven at home may help get the bats going, though they'll have some tough starters on the dockett: Ervin Santana, Jered Weaver, Kelvim Escobar, Erik Bedard

Cincinnati Reds: SAN FRANCISCO (3), ARIZONA (3) - You've got to love six at home in a great power park. Take it with a grain of salt, though. They'll face former Cy Young winners Barry Zito, Brandon Webb, and Randy Johnson this week... not to mention a young star on the rise in Matt Cain.

Colorado Rockies: NEW YORK METS (3), PHILADELPHIA (3) - Any time the Rockies have six in Coors, they're on this list. Toss in the Phillies' current AAA rotation, and it would be a shock if they don't challenge fifty runs this week.

Houston Astros: PHILADELPHIA (3), NEW YORK METS (4) - Not only do the Astros love Minute Maid, but they'll also face four lefties (Jamie Moyer, Cole Hamels, Tom Glavine, Oliver Perez). The Astros are currently sixth in the bigs with a .286 average against lefties.

New York Mets: Colorado (3), Houston (4) - You just have to love that Coors/Minute Maid daily double.

Philadelphia Phillies: Houston (3), Colorado (3) - I wish they were playing seven games like the Mets, but you still have to love any offense that gets to feed off of the Crawford Boxes and the thin air in Denver in the same week.

Unfavorable

Atlanta Braves: Los Angeles Dodgers (4), San Diego (3) - While Dodger Stadium has played pretty neutral the past few years, they'll have to face Derek Lowe, Randy Wolf, and Brad Penny in the series. They'll then head to San Diego, where hits go to die.

Chicago Cubs: Washington (4), Pittsburgh (3) - Now's the time when the Cub offense wants to be playing in Wrigley, but they'll have to take to the road and go through one of the worst parks for power hitters in baseball.

Florida Marlins: San Diego (4), Los Angeles Dodgers (3) - When a team plays in a great pitcher's park, it's difficult to project a down week for them when they're on the road. However, when you consider they'll face Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Derek Lowe, and Randy Wolf next week and more than half their games will be played in the best pitcher's park in all of baseball, the Marlins might be lucky to score twenty all week.

San Diego Padres: FLORIDA (4), ATLANTA (3) - They'll only face one elite starter (John Smoltz), but they still have to play all seven games at Petco.

St. Louis Cardinals: ARIZONA (4), San Francisco (3) - They'll face the three Cy Young award winners that the Reds have to face, and they'll do so at home, where the Cardinals have scored just 141 runs in 36 games (tied for 28th in the majors). What may be worse than anything, though, is that they'll face four lefties, three of whom are soft-tossers. The Cardinals are 26th in the majors with a .248 average against lefties this season, and this may be the week that decides whether they're buyers or sellers at the deadline.

Washington Nationals: CHICAGO CUBS (4), MILWAUKEE (3) - Playing seven in RFK is never a good thing.

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