Angels 2012 Schedule is Almost Too Favorable!

Wow! A close examination of the Angels 2012 schedule shows a scheduling favoritism toward the Halos that I can never recall in my 37 seasons following the team. Before we discuss it in all of its awesome details, take a look... 

(click the image for a larger version)

Consider how awesome this schedule is:

The team opens with three games at home against the Royals - Angels Opening Day is Friday, April 6.

But the fun is just starting...

• Between April 30 until June 25 the Angels play NO games in the eastern time zone! They play nine games outside of the Pacific time zone and have six offdays.
• The Angels have a six-game, seven-day road trip to play the Twins and the Rangers - their only visit to the central time zone in that pleasant stretch.
• They have three games in the Mountain Time zone in that 57-Day span - Interleague in Denver against the Rockies.

ONE Nine Game Road Trip: After that amazing 57 days away from the east, the Angels travel on an offday to play two games in Baltimore, the face the Blue Jays in the former SkyDome for four and finish up with three against the Indians in Cleveland. They follow this road trip up with four games at home against the Orioles and then have four days off for the All Star break. Talk about a cakewalk!

TWO ten-game road trips: First there is a ten-game roadtrip smack in the middle of the Pacific Timezone StayCation: May 18 - 27 sees three in San Diego with pitchers batting against the Padres, three in Oakland and a Thursday-Sunday trip to play the Mariners. Don't tell Al-Qaeda, but I'm seriously thinking of Amtracking this whole stretch. Who is with me?

Later in the season, July 30 sees the Angels in Texas for four games - better two there in early August than in late August. From Texas the team travels to play the White Sox for three and then to Oakland for three games followed by an offday.

FROST MITIGATION: While they play three games in Minnesota in (possibly) subzero Arctic April, an off-day is built in to the schedule as well as an early May off-day following three games in the (hopefully) thawing Great White North - so the possibility of rainout/snowout snafus is greatly and thoughtfully mitigated ahead of time.

SUMMER IN THE CITY: Speaking of lousy weather, the worst stretch of late-summer humidity for the Angels is three games in Boston beginning August 21. Nine August road games are in Chicago, Detroit and Oakland - a more than likely chance for great baseball weather against the White Sox, Tigers and Athletics while other teams are bogged down in mugginess.

AL EAST Monsters: The Angels make two road trips to Yankee Stadium - three games in mid-April when the team is fresh and one following the four day All Star Break. The Yankees visit the big A once, while we are far from travel weary in late May. The team does not see the dreaded Red Sox until August 21 and only plays six games with the Chowds. Of course, the biggest downside to that silver lining is ten games against the Who Knows How Good They Will Be Tampa Bay Rays (and even that has as silver lining of 7 of those games being in Anaheim).

September With the Family: A seven game homestand Sept 7-13 is followed by three games on the road against the Royals and an offday and then a 9-game 10-day homestand thru September 27 before finishing up on the road in Texas and the Seattle on Wednesday, October 3.

Special Thanks to Eric Kay in the team's media department for sharing this with us.