An Uphill Battle Until September Ends

BY MELISSA ZIELINSKI

As August comes to a close and you feel a chill in the breeze it only means one thing, fall is just around the corner. For me, this time of year means my fantasy baseball trade deadline is nearing, my first full season of fantasy baseball is ending and my first fantasy baseball postseason will begin (fingers crossed).

Let me put my fantasy sports thoughts aside though to talk about the real reality of baseball at the moment.

The Oakland Athletics have found themselves embedded once again in postseason talks with actual live mentions from an ESPN reporter here-and-there.

For those of you who know me or have read my blog, you know I’m a diehard believer in the green and gold from Oakland. In the past few seasons the A’s have been at the bottom (or near the bottom) of the basement in their division (I’m talking the last six years), but this year it seems this team, the Athletics, have given me some hope.

I grimace in pain when I think about that hope.

From season start to now the Athletics have steadily improved. Before the All-Star break, Oakland went 37-27, since the All-Star break they’re 22-13. For any A’s fan this is a key characteristic of the A’s – being better post All-Star break, but I can’t say it’s been that way since the last time that Oakland has made a playoff appearance (in 2006 they were swept by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series).

Until now…

Currently the Athletics are sitting pretty in second place in the American League West and are six games back of the front-running Texas Rangers. While there’s still a chance to knock Texas from their first-place pedestal, the Wild Card is the best bet for Oakland right now.

It’s an option that is being dangled right in front of their faces too like a piece of yarn above a cat.

Of the two Wild Card spots granted in the AL, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Baltimore Orioles hold them, respectively. The A’s are only a half a game back from securing those non-secure spots however, while Detroit is right on the A’s heels at one-and-a-half games back.  The Los Angeles Angels (four games back), Boston Red Sox (seven games back) and Seattle Mariners (seven and a half games back) are also forces to be reckoned with if they can rise to the occasion in the last month or so of the regular season.

So why am I grimacing you ask? I’ll tell you why.

Of Oakland’s remaining opponents: two are first place teams in the AL, six are in the AL Wild Card hunt and two carry histories of beating the Athletics over and over, no matter how good or how poor they perform in that given year.

The Athletics are slated to face the Rays, Red Sox, Angels (twice), Mariners (twice), Orioles and Tigers.  Those are all teams surrounding the A’s in the race those two offered Wild Card spots.

In their remaining series, 21 of 50 of the league’s best batters will face Oakland’s pitching staff, while 13 of 50 of the league’s best pitchers could possibly take the mound against the A’s.

None of the league’s best batters (out of the top 50) come from Oakland and only two pitchers of the 50 best pitchers in the league are from the A’s.

At this point I cannot begin to predict if the A’s will be able to clinch a birth for the first time since 2006, but I’ll watch nervously to see what manager Bob Melvin and his club can pull from their sleeves.

Instead for now, I’ll stick to managing my so cleverly named “Elephant in the Room.” Yes – my fantasy team.