Fredi Gonzalez can testify to the importance of strength of schedule. Before the season began, it was evident that the Atlanta Braves and their manager faced a ridiculously difficult gauntlet of playoff contenders (as I noted before the season), series after series of World Series wannabes, and by the middle of May, Gonzalez was out of a job. That Atlanta has played better since then might be as much a function of who they've played as anything else.
With that in mind, here is the strength-of-schedule rankings for the second half for all contending teams, ranked from the toughest to the easiest.