The soft portion of the Yankees’ schedule, set for August and September, hasn’t turned out to be quite so soft after all. While the teams on their docket aren’t as intimidating as the Orioles, Red Sox, and Phillies, extenuating circumstances often seem to rule the day, and Mother Nature has a funny way of evening things out.

For the second consecutive series, the Yankees have a washout on their hands, leading to unfavorable circumstances against a theoretically beatable opponent.

Friday night’s contest vs. the Texas Rangers has been rained out and moved to Saturday, when a single-admission doubleheader will begin at 1:05 PM.

Yankees-Rangers rained out for Friday night, doubleheader scheduled for Saturday

The Yankees also played a doubleheader on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which condensed their pitching plans and limited relief options in the second game. That contest was, of course, a blowout at the hands of 27th Man Will Warren, and the late-inning crunch didn’t matter much, in the end. Of course, Warren starting was, in itself, a boon to the Angels, who needed a break after an efficient Yankees victory in the opener.

LAA went on to take the series, winning a rain-soaked and sloppy blowout on Thursday night in the Bronx. Isn’t it funny how, when the weather conditions are less than ideal, we tend to believe the Yankees will be the ones flubbing things up, rather than their under-.500 opponents? Anyway…

Of course, the flip side here is that the Rangers are also short on pitching depth, and will be facing the same constraints. Hopefully, the Yankees can take advantage this time instead of sliding downward the way they did against the Angels.

The bottom line is that a doubleheader isn’t a death sentence, but it certainly makes a split of the series’ first two games likelier than if they were spaced out. Then, all of a sudden, a rubber game has been sprung upon you after already being worn down the day prior by double duty. It would be great if we could simply trust the Yankees to take care of business here. After failing when presented with the same challenge earlier in the week, though, it’s difficult to trust this current group — especially when they’re sporting a 1-7-1 record in their past nine home series.