Could the A's Win the West???

[regaleagle]

Don't look now, but the A's are playing some pretty impressive ball. They are only 4 games back of the Rangers in the AL West, and have won their last 9 of 10. They just beat the Red Sox in Boston 20-2. They have a talented group of young players that can really hit well. Can the A's catch the Rangers in a head-to-head series? Yes, the Rangers could lose to the Angels and A's enough games to fall out of the lead this month. It is not only possible, it is very possible. Comments please.

[regaleagle]

Just to give you the latest update, the Rangers did win tonite against the Indians, and Beltre went 4 for 5. And the A's beat Boston as stated above.

[Tejastrue]

The A's have peaked too early IMO. With all their recent success they've closed the gap..what 2 games on the Rangers? The Red Sox are basically minor leaguers at this point. The A's do deserve the attention but they need to focus on the wildcard ..whiich is very close if I recall. What's lost in all this is Dempster is 4-1 and Nathan has his 28th save.

[Rabid Cougar]

Very possible. 7 games remain between them on the schedule.

[regaleagle]

Since the Rangers lost to the Indians last nite 4-3, and the A's beat the Red Sox again....the Rangers lead is now down to 3 games in the AL West. The A's have a more difficult schedule than do the Rangers from here on out, though. IMO, their starting pitching against the better teams will not make it as easy for the A's to win in the coming weeks. They'll have to play 6 against the Angels and 3 against both the Yankees and Detroit, not even counting 4 against the Rangers. I look for this 3 game lead the Rangers have to widen for the A's and perhaps decrease the difference between the A's and the Angels as we near season's end Oct. 3rd. Anything could happen, but it looks to me like the Angels and A's will battle for a wild card spot. The Rays and Baltimore are both playing well also, but IMO the Rays have the best pitching. Still, this is baseball and things are getting very interesting. The A's have now won 10 of the last 11 and are finishing up their series with the Red Sox today.

[SintonFan_inAustin]

Rangers need some more breathing room, hopefully they add a few games to the lead by the end of the week.

[jdawg2012]

The west? No. Wild Card? Yes.

[regaleagle]

I'm hoping you're right, jdawg. As it stands now, the Rangers and NY are both leading their divisions by 3 games, and both are winning today. The Chisox have a 1 1/2 game lead in the Central over Detroit, Baltimore and the Rays are still in it, as is the A's and Angels. At this point, every one of these teams COULD possibly win in their divisiion....even the Angels in the West. That means that all of these teams are mathmatically in the hunt for a playoff spot in the AL. What you have is 8 teams playing for 5 playoff spots, and ultimately 4th and 5th spot gets a one-gamer to determine the wild card that will play a 5-gamer against the team with the best record. Nos. 2 & 3 will play each other, and nos. 1 & 4 will play each other, all in a 5-game series. The winners play a 7-gamer for the AL Pennant.

[SintonFan_inAustin]

Hello win column! Back to 25 games over now just need A's to lose today to get that lead back to 4 game. Rangers keep taking 2 out of 3 they'll be hard to catch.


oh the pie in the face returns! hadn't seen that in while for the Rangers.

[RoyceTTU]

I'll be at 2 of the games in the final series in Oakland :-D

[Tejastrue]

I'll be at 2 of the games in the final series in Oakland :-D

Pulling for the Rangers I hope..Lol

[Twirling Time]

I was there last Friday when Beltre hit for the cycle and Harrison took a no-hitter into the seventh. That was fun. Good seats too, about 25 rows straight back from home plate.

As was mentioned earlier, the Rangers, A's and Angels all have to play each other at the end of the year, and the only way to make up serious ground is to sweep a series. If you can take 1 of 3, all you lose is 1 game in the standings. All Texas has to do is what they're doing now: keep taking 2 of 3.

[ethsfbnut]

Can`t believe I was rooting for Angels yesterday. Didn`t feel right. Rangers just need to take care of their business. They know this better than us.
Correct about 2 out of 3.

[Slick50]

A's will choke down the stretch

[SintonFan_inAustin]

A's are tied with the Yankees for the 2nd best record in the AL!

Rangers seem to be able to keep the challengers from getting closer than 3 games of the al west lead. Hopefully the Angels sweep them and the Rangers can put some more distance between them and the A's.

[regaleagle]

Well the Rangers won last nite against the Indians while the A's beat the Angels again. That puts Texas up by 3 games to the A's, but the Angels could still make up it's 7.5 game deficit. The head-to-heads against both these division rivals, as well as Seattle, begins after this Cleveland series at home. That's when the real games in the AL West will get crazy, no matter which of these 3 teams the Rangers are playing. The Rangers schedule against division opponents to end the season is not necessarily the way all of the division ends its season schedule. ALL games after this Cleveland series will be with division opponents for the Rangers.....every single game. Grab your shorts and hold on for the ride. As it stands right now, the Rangers, Oakland, and the Angels are mathmatically still in it to win the AL West because of the head-to-heads with the Rangers. For the Angels to win the West, they would have to win 75% of their remaining 21 games while the Rangers would have to lose 75% of their remaining 21 games. At the same time, the A's would have to lose over 50% of their games also in this scenario for the Angels to win the West. For Oakland to win the West, they just need to close the gap with the Rangers, and that can be done much easier, esp. in the head-to-heads. They have 7 head-to-heads left with the Rangers. I'm not even gonna talk about Seattle's mathmatical chances because they are too extreme.

[defense51]

The A's are making a hell of a run for the west, the head to head games with the A's are going to be CRITICAL for Texas to stay on top. Things are going to get interesting over the next few Weeks.

[Grahamcheerdad]

I think either way right now the Rangers would have to play them first round of playoffs

[regaleagle]

No, that is not true. It could happen that both teams coming out of the AL West(winner and wild card) could be pitted numbers 2 and 4 or 5. The eventual true wild card(#4) will play #1. With the head to heads, it's easy to surmise if the Rangers do win the West, but drop games, and Oakland wins the Wild Card, then Texas Could end up with the 2nd best record easily. Nothing is even close to being decided in the AL yet with any of these teams....there's just too much left in all scenarios.

[coach]

I think either way right now the Rangers would have to play them first round of playoffs

no, if the rangers have the best record in baseball then they play the winner of the twi wild card teams...

[Twirling Time]

The Rangers and A's have seven games left against each other in the last 10 games. Until that time, though, the Rangers play Seattle for six and the Angels for three. Oakland still has nine games against Detroit, Baltimore and New York in that stretch.

The Rangers got this.