For the first time in the history of the sport, the wild-card team in each league will now be decided by a single-game playoff between the two best teams among non-division winners in the standings. That puts a huge amount of importance on pitching, especially the starting pitcher.A team may be lacking offensively, but one great start by an ace and suddenly they're only looking for one or two runs to send them to the postseason. It's an exciting new approach to the wild-card race, but it's one that can be fortuitous or deadly depending on your standing and who ...
The Oakland Raiders are using Saturday's preseason game against the Detroit Lions as a dry run for the regular season, and that is a very good thing.With as much transition as this team is dealing with, they need all the regular season-like experience they can manage.This certainly is not a groundbreaking idea. The third preseason game is typically the one teams use to treat most like the regular season as they play starters into the third quarter, but for the Raiders, this is about much more than getting the first-stringers some extra run. This is clearly not lost on offensive ...
As the MLB season gets ready to head into the home stretch, teams look at this point of the year as a chance to see some of the younger players from the minor leagues get some big-league experience. It works well for the team, which does not lose time on a player's arbitration clock, and for the players themselves, who have an opportunity to impress or stick around into the following season.For the A's, the September call-ups may turn out to be largely ceremonial in the midst of a full-fledged playoff chase. This is even more of a possibility after ...
Oakland Athletics right-hander Bartolo Colon was suspended 50 games today for a positive Performance Enhancing Drug test. According to Jeff Passan at Yahoo Sports, Colon was using a synthetic testosterone, which seems to be the PED du jour after Melky Cabrera's suspension.This author is stunned by today's news. More specifically, stunned that Colon did not test positive sooner.Can anyone honestly say this is surprising? After his Cy Young Award winning season of 2005, he was unable to throw 100 innings. In fact he was so injured at the end of the 2005 Division Series that he was removed from the ...
Oakland Athletics starting pitcher and former Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon issued a statement following MLB's announcement that he had been suspended for 50 games after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.In a statement released through the Major League Baseball Players Union, Colon said:"I apologize to the fans, to my teammates and to the Oakland A's. I accept responsibility for my actions and I will serve my suspension as required by the Joint Drug Program."Wait...is that all?How about saying something like "I'm only sorry I got caught?"That's really what all players should say when they're suspended, because ...
Earlier today, CBSSports.com senior insider Jon Heyman broke the news that A's starting pitcher Bartolo Colon failed an MLB drug test and is subject to a 50-game suspension. In a statement released from by the MLB Players Association, Colon said, "I apologize to the fans, to my teammates and to the Oakland A's. I accept responsibility for my actions and I will serve my suspension as required by the joint drug program."Arguably the ace of one of the more surprising pitching staffs in baseball, Colon will miss the final 40 games of the 2012 regular season and up to 10 games ...
The Oakland Athletics were one of the biggest surprises in the playoff race this season, but they recently received a very unpleasant surprise. ESPN has reported that Bartolo Colon has tested positive for testosterone and that he will be suspended for 50 games.Even though Colon is not the ace that he used to be, this still shakes up a few American League playoff races. Colon was having a very good year for the Athletics, going 10-9 with a 3.43 ERA.Oakland recently acquired Stephen Drew to try to improve their playoff chances, but this news almost certainly cancels that move out.The ...
Mike Goodson could be the front-runner for a backup rushing role in the Oakland Raider offense, but his recent preseason performance against the Arizona Cardinals makes you wonder if he’s ready. Since Michael Bush signed with the Chicago Bears this offseason, the Raiders are left to decide who will be No. 2 on the depth chart behind star rusher Darren McFadden. Goodson was acquired from the Carolina Panthers in the off-season for offensive lineman Bruce Campbell, presumably to supplant the departed Bush who ran for 977 yards in 2011. But his poor performance in Week 2 of ...
Now halfway through the preseason, it's safe to say that things haven't gone quite as many Raider fans had hoped.For starters, the team remains winless, and even those who mock the supposed importance of the preseason would acknowledge that things haven't gone according to plan.Sure, Darren McFadden and the defensive line have been outstanding, but the rest of the starters still seem to be getting up to speed.Fortunately for guys like Carson Palmer, their preseason play is basically irrelevant as their job has already been set in stone. For other guys, however, the next two weeks represent a fierce battle ...
Michael Lewis is famous for his awe-inspiring "how the improbable became possible" literature, and his 2003 tale Moneyball shed light on just how the 2002 Oakland Athletics were able to compete with baseball’s best, despite their bottom-feeder status on the baseball market. Using advanced metrics and analytics, the A’s were able to field a team full of undervalued but talented misfits and were able to steal the AL West division that season. A decade later, not much has changed in Oakland.The team still fields a bargain-basement roster full of players that, at first glace, might seem like cronies but are ...