I know these last few weeks have had a lot of grand proclamations: “The season is over,” or “This loss sticks a fork in us,” followed by post win statements about how we’re still alive and how this team isn’t collapsing. As egregious as some of these statements have been, and as much as I am against making these kind of remarks, I feel comfortable in saying this—these next 16 games will likely determine our season.

These next 16 games are not going to be easy. They feature this upcoming four game set against the Dodgers, six NL Central/Wild Card destiny controlling games against the Cardinals, and series at San Diego and home against the Brewers—games that are definitely not easy wins. This pretty much puts us into September.

My line of thinking is that I would be content with nine wins in these 16 games. Of course, where those eight wins come from makes a big difference. A sweep against San Diego and series win against Milwaukee wouldn’t do much good, because that mean the final four would be scrapped up from the St. Louis and Los Angeles series and only hurt us in both respective races, but splitting against LA and St. Louis, as well as picking up series wins against San Diego and Milwaukee should at the very minimum, not hurt us from where are positioned now in both races. It is about finishing out the month of August in position to still be strongly alive in September, so nine should allow us to do that. Any losses the Reds get in that span (as with the Braves) only add another cherry on top. I would say anything below eight wins would be pretty bad and anything about nine would be downright pleasant. With six games against the Reds in September, we just need to be in good enough position in the start of September.

What is everyone else feel on these next 16 games? Do you all think they hold the same weight as I have for them and how do you think we will perform?