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The Oakland Telegraph
16 September 2025
Oakland's wildcard hopes take a knock as Reetz is ruled out for the season
By Ace Running, base running correspondent
The A's have been in terrific form so far in September. They have won 8 of their last 9 games to sit 79-64. They have no hope of catching the runaway American League West leaders, the 95-49 Rangers. But they now narrowly lead the incredibly tight wildcard race, where just one game separates them, Houston and Boston, who have now been overtaken in the AL East by Toronto.
However, their hopes of securing one of the two wildcard spots took a blow last night when starting catcher Jakson Reetz picked up an injury. The delicate flower was hurt running the bases in yesterday's vital 11-3 victory over Houston, and physio Walter Proofplasters diagnosed him with a strained medial collateral ligament, whatever on earth that means. Reetz will now miss the rest of the season.
Field manager Phil D'Manager will now rely on hitherto underwhelming backup catcher Luis Torrens to step into Reetz's boots. Torrens is sound behind the plate and has talent with the bat, but can he produce? Whether he does or not will probably determine whether he has a future at the Coliseum beyond this season, as there were rumours that GM Paulie Beane explored potential trades for him before the deadline. Taking the backup catcher spot on the roster will be prospect Dylan Johnston (24/S/1*, drafted 2018 supp rd 1 by Miami), who joined Oakland from the Marlins in the same trade as Karl Dickson. Johnston is only average behind the plate but potentially productive on offense if he is needed.
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