Magical

Back in May, I wrote that the Oakland A's were going to be surprisingly good this season. To some it might've felt like a hot take. To others it probably made sense given how super talented their lineup is.

Well here in September, the A's have flat out surged and at some points have managed to come as close as being one game behind the Houston Astros in the AL West standings. Chances are they'll still end up in second place in the ALW, but it's an amazing feat regardless.

The A's have managed to make up a ton of ground because they got hot right when the Astros decided to slump for a bit. The New York Yankees were never able to capitalize on the few down moments the Boston Red Sox did have this season and as such they've been relegated to a Wild Card spot (even though they've won more games than any club in the NL).

When I wrote my post on how good I thought the A's were going to be, them nearly overtaking the Astros for first place was not what I had in mind. I thought that maybe they'd sneak in for the second wild card or be super good spoilers. Instead they've managed to exceed those expectations by a big margin. In that they won't be sneaking in like the Minnesota Twins did last year. The Yankees should be terrified of the A's in the Wild Card Game.

The A's would be a nightmare to face because their offense is always liable to put up runs early and often. What's even scarier than that is how the A's don't exactly have the best starting pitching, but they have the benefit of a deep and effective bullpen headlined by Blake Treinen who is just an absolute wizard. The thought of having someone as good as Treinen and simultaneously relying on someone like Fernando Rodney to be the designated closer is really funny to me.

But that doesn't make that bullpen any less of a threat. And with rumors circulating that the A's might go with "The Opener" strategy (which I blogged about last week), they'd have a big advantage.

Anyway the chaos-loving baseball fan in me really wants to see the A's overtake the lead in the AL West and finish the year as the AL West Champs. The underdog A's surging and winning the division is a storyline I'm always behind (remember 2012?). It'll be an absolute nightmare to see the Yankees go up against Justin Verlander, but honestly I'm not sure how far the Yankees could get in the postseason anyway.

So yeah, go A's. Make the Yay Area proud and use your hyphy powers to bring playoff baseball back to your fans before you get moved to Las Vegas. At least this time the team didn't make any future mortgaging trades to bring back minor upgrades that do absolutely nothing (nothing good anyway) in the Wild Card game. As for Houston, their fall back to being the Lastros can't come quick enough.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).