Lets take a look...

A sweep of the Royals. Couldn't ask for a better start to the road trip.

The end result is the Yankees holding a 4 game lead on the Tigers and a 5 game lead on the Mariners. The Yankees and Tigers have 19 games remaining and the Mariners have 21.

How about we look at the remaining schedule?

For the Yankees, 3 games against the Blue Jays (72-70) and 3 against the Saux (87-57) before returning home to play Baltimore(61-81) and Toronto again, then ending the season with a road trip to Tampa Bay(60-83) and Baltimore.

That's a combined opponents record of 280-291 and that number is obviously helped out a lot by the Red Sox record..

Just looking at the numbers of the bottom feeders of the AL-east, you might not get worried, however here's a look at the Yankees numbers against those teams this year..

Toronto: 6-5
Boston: 8-7
Tampa Bay: 8-7
Baltimore 4-8 (ugh)

Total: 26-27

So the Yankees need to be careful down the stretch here.. 4 games is a nice cushion, but nothing is in the bag..

Meanwhile, the Tigers face Texas(68-74) and Minnesota(70-73) before a huge series at Cleavland(83-60).. They then finish their season against the likes of Kansas City(62-80), Minnesota again the White Sox(61-82).

That's a combined record of 344-369.. Below is how they have fared this season against those teams..

Texas: 3-3
Minnesota: 7-5
Cleveland: 6-9
Kansas: 9-6
White Sox: 6-9

Total: 31-32

And finally, the fading Mariners. They play host to Oakland(69-75) and Tampa Bay(60-83) before heading on the road to Oakland and Los Angeles(84-59)... Then things get a little unorthodox... They head to Cleveland(83-60) for a night game, then both teams fly BACK to Seattle for a make up game during the day, then fly BACK to Cleveland for a night game... Whew... And finally they finish the season home against Texas(68-74).

That gives a combined record of 364-351..

As far as how they have done against those teams so far:

Oakland: 10-3
Los Angeles: 4-11
Cleveland: 1-2
Texas: 8-8

Total: 23-23

Stats are stats and when it comes down to it, they don't mean much. But looking at those it looks like all three teams play pretty evenly against their upcoming opponents.

This would be fine for the Yankees. A 4 game lead is a strong one, but they do have to be careful. Playing at a .500 clip like they have agaisnt these teams so far is not what they want to do.. The Boston series is doubly important because the other two teams play fairly weaker teams at that time.

Things look good, but the Yankees just can't let up. It's going to be an exciting season, right down to the wire.

Also, most of the info here was pulled from this website. It's worth checking out if you're a stat-hound.