The Swingin' A's pounded Texas 11-4 today in Oakland to take two out of three in that series. So Oakland and Texas are now tied with identical records of 80-59, and we are looking at a race down to the wire between these two rivals. Here are the last 23 games for each team, with home games in all caps:
TEXAS RANGERS (13 home, 10 away):
Sept. 6-8: @ Los Angeles Angels (3 games)
Sept. 9-11: PITTSBURGH (3 games)
Sept. 13-15: OAKLAND (3 games)
Sept. 16-19: @ Tampa Bay (4 games)
Sept. 20-22: @ Kansas City (3 games)
Sept. 23-25: HOUSTON (3 games)
Sept. 26-29: LOS ANGELES ANGELS (4 games)
OAKLAND ATHLETICS (11 home, 12 away):
Sept. 5-8: HOUSTON (4 games)
Sept. 10-12: @ Minnesota (3 games)
Sept. 13-15: @ Texas (3 games)
Sept. 16-18: LOS ANGELES ANGELS (3 games)
Sept. 19-22: MINNESOTA (4 games)
Sept. 23-25: @ Los Angeles Angels (3 games)
Sept. 27-29: @ Seattle (3 games)
The Rangers have two more home games than the Athletics, and the Rangers get to host the last three games of the year between Texas and Oakland. But the Rangers also have to play seven games against Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, while Oakland gets to play 20 of its last 23 games against teams that have been eliminated. (How did the A's end up with seven games in September against the Twins?) Anyway, whatever the rest of the baseball world may do in September, it looks as through Eric is in for some drama.
My go-to outlet for A's analysis is the Twitter feed (@JaneMLB) of Jane Lee, the Oakland beat writer for MLB.com. (There are four things in that sentence that I either wouldn't have or couldn't have imagined myself saying today when I got done studying journalism at WKU in 1990.) Here are some of the more thrilling of Jane Lee's dispatches after yesterday's win:
ReplyDeleteJane Lee @JaneMLB
The A's have 26 home runs since August 18, most in that span by 5, with the Cubs and Rangers next in line at 21.
5:18 PM - 4 Sep 13
In the last 10 days, the A's have beaten up on A. Sanchez, Verlander, Fister, Scherzer, Price, Holland and Darvish.
5:51 PM - 4 Sep 13
Jarrod Parker's 18-game unbeaten streak is a new Oakland record. He hasn't lost since May 22.
5:52 PM - 4 Sep 13
The A's just went 9-4 against Baltimore, Detroit, Tampa and Texas. Now they get to play 7 games against Astros, Twins.
5:56 PM - 4 Sep 13
Oakland snapped the Rangers' streak of 31 consecutive games in which they allowed 5 runs or less, longest streak in AL in the DH era.
6:39 PM - 4 Sep 13
#GREENCOLLAR!
And it's Nap Lajoie's birthday!
ReplyDelete#GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENCOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOakland lost the first game of the Houston series, but then the A's won the remaining three games.
ReplyDeleteOakland is 1.5 games ahead of Texas in the American League West, and Tampa is 3.0 games behind Texas in the wild-card standings. Baltimore, 2.0 behind Tampa, is the first team out of the tournament.
The A's have an off day today, so that means I get to wash my Coco Crisp shirt.