Pitching: Detroit: A-Justin Verlander headlines a pitching staff that has a nice mix of young arms and veterans with postseason experience. Max Scherzer, Doug Fister and Rick Porcello round out the rotation, while Drew Smyly was added to the playoff roster for depth. As a group, they can pile up the strikeouts, but also can lose their command and issue too many walks. They should get plenty of run support with an offense that features Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Austin Jackson, so the pitching likely just has to be good, not great, for the Tigers to advance.Oakland: B+The power of ...
Oakland Athletics co-owner Lew Wolff announced Oct. 5 he will not be removing the third-deck tarps for postseason home games, according to Carolyn Jones of SFGate.com. Though the third deck should be available for playoffs, Mount Davis should still remain covered.Wolff cites an "intimate fan experience" as his reasoning for denying additional seating to A's fans' first postseason action since 2006.That's a poor excuse.This is the playoffs. The Athletics haven't played baseball in October for six years. Furthermore, attendance has been terrible all season, yet now that the team is winning, games are sold out.Worried the postseason won't sell out?Game ...
The AL West champion Oakland Athletics have announced their 25-man roster for their upcoming American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers according to MLB.com's Jane Lee.The roster includes left-handed pitcher Brett Anderson, who boasts a 4-2 record this season with a 2.57 ERA. The move to include Anderson is somewhat surprising though considering that he has not pitched since he lost 6-2 at Detroit on September 19.Anderson suffered an oblique strain a few weeks back according to Lee, but could be the A's starter in a potential close-out situation for either side in Game 3. The Athletics will travel to ...
The Oakland A's stunned the baseball world on Wednesday, completing a three-game sweep of the two-time defending AL champions Texas Rangers and clinching the AL West title. It was the first time since April that the Rangers weren't in at least a tie for first place. General manager Billy Beane has been up to his old tricks this season, assembling a World Series contender with a Dollar General payroll. Thanks to his young, talented pitching staff, Oakland won 94 games and sported the second best ERA in the AL. However, some have questioned whether the A's are legitimate World Series ...
Heading into spring training to begin the 2012 season fresh off an offseason full of activity by the front office, scouts and fans alike projected the A's to push the 100-loss mark for the season and wallow in the American League West cellar for the entire season.The focus was clear and without question—build towards 2014 and a new stadium in San Jose.Six months later we find the A's in an unexpected and unfathomable place: the playoffs.The 2002 Oakland A's inspired a best-selling book and later Hollywood movie, Moneyball. Brad Pitt was brought in and played Billy ...
You would be hard pressed to find a louder stadium than the Coliseum on the last day of the season in Oakland. And the Oakland A's Wednesday win over the Texas Rangers was just that—loud.You can bet that A's fans will be just as loud and colorful in the postseason. The fans are back, excitement is in the air and—for the time being—Oakland has become a baseball town again.Let's take a look at how the Athletics are going to fare in the postseason. Pitching Oakland fans learned the power of youth in 2012, witnessing a young group of hurlers who came together to ...
On June 30, the Oakland A's trailed the Texas Rangers by 13 games in the AL West. They trailed the Rangers by five games as recently as last Monday.On Wednesday, the A's finally underdogged their way past the Rangers in a 12-5 victory in front of a packed house at O.co Coliseum that went absolutely bananas when the final out was squeezed. One guy was so stoked that he found himself celebrating on the ground amidst the peanut shells and hot dog wrappers.And rightfully so. The 2012 A's are the first team in baseball history to overcome a five-game deficit ...
How could I not write about this Oakland Athletics team? I mean, after overcoming so many obstacles—including a 13-game deficit on June 30—to win the AL West, it’s impossible not to. So this post, albeit brief, is dedicated to their magical run, which continues Saturday at Comerica Park.Before the regular season began, I was sure of three things: that the offense, because of a power shortage, would have to manufacture runs; that Jemile Weeks was immune to the sophomore slump; and that the team would actually surprise a lot of people and finish third in the division, not fourth. Shows how much ...
Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour shut the door on the Texas Rangers in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.Metallica was blaring and over 12,000 walk-up tickets had been sold.Not one day in first place in the past 161 games.Eight outs away from a possible rematch with Detroit, one which ended badly during the 2006 playoffs for the Athletics. The aforementioned closing trio again shut the door in the faces of the Texas Rangers, who for the third time in three years have had to deal with some sort of disappointment while in the playoffs or during the run-up to the ...
Amid all the joy that has accompanied the Oakland Athletics' improbable AL West crown comes tragic news, as relief pitcher Pat Neshek and his wife Stephanee lost their newborn son, Gehrig John Neshek, just 23 hours after he was born.Neshek tweeted the sad news last evening:
Please pray for my family.Tonight my wife & I lost our first & only son 23 hours after he was born with no explanation.— Pat Neshek (@PatNeshek) October 4, 2012
The A's quickly lent their support to the family in a statement during this trying time, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today):Our hearts go ...