The Charlotte Knights are 10 games over .500 this season. They are also 10 games over .500 against the Durham Bulls.
Those are the same 10 games.
Charlotte beat Durham 5-3 at Truist Field on Sunday, won the final series four games to two and completed the season series at 14-4. The victory moved the Knights to 62-52 overall.
Subtract Durham and Charlotte is 48-48.
That does not make the 14 wins worth less. It makes them more important. Durham occupied 18 of Charlotte's first 114 games and supplied the Knights' entire margin above .500. Now that matchup is gone, and a season-long 12-game road trip begins Tuesday.
The whole margin, in one matchup
Charlotte established the advantage on opening weekend. The Knights swept three games at Truist Field, beginning with a 19-2 Opening Night win and finishing with consecutive walk-offs.
They expanded it in June. Charlotte swept six games in Durham, scored at least 10 runs three times and reached 9-0 against the Bulls.
Durham finally broke the streak in July and won that road series two games to one. Charlotte's loss in the finale was particularly wasteful: 14 runners stranded in a 3-2 game.
Then came the final six games at Truist Field. Charlotte split Wednesday's doubleheader, won Thursday and Friday, lost Saturday and closed the series Sunday. Four wins and two losses turned 10-2 into 14-4.
The Knights never lost consecutive games to Durham. Their winning percentage across the season series was .778. Against everybody else, it is exactly .500.
That is not proof that Durham was easy or that Charlotte's record is misleading. The supplied records do not establish either claim. It is proof that one matchup accounts for the difference between an even season and the 62-52 record Charlotte carries into Rochester.
One final response
Durham led Sunday's finale twice. Korey Lee erased a 1-0 deficit with his 16th home run in the second inning. The Bulls moved back ahead 2-1 in the third.
Charlotte answered with three runs in the bottom half. Ryan Galanie tied the game with an RBI single. A Durham error brought home another run, and Lee added an RBI groundout. Junior Perez's solo home run in the seventh completed Charlotte's scoring.
Six pitchers covered nine innings. Daniel Wright earned the win in his Knights debut. Tyler Schweitzer, Adisyn Coffey and Garrett Schoenle recorded holds. Jaden Woods pitched the ninth for his second save. Jose Urquidy worked the first two innings in his Truist Field debut.
The personnel changed. The result against Durham did not.
The schedule stops offering Durham
Charlotte is 20-19 in the second half, only one game above .500. The same unresolved question carries into the trip: can the Knights create separation against the teams still on their schedule?
What the internal schedule does establish is the length. Charlotte opens a six-game series at Rochester on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m., then plays six more at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before returning to Truist Field.
Rochester already supplied a warning. In June, Charlotte took a 2-1 series lead against the Red Wings at home, then lost the final three games and the series.
Durham gave Charlotte 18 games and a 10-win advantage. The remaining schedule starts even.