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The Oakland Telegraph
23 September 2024
A's braced for nervous run-in after sweep by Texas
By X. I. Tingtimes, edge of the seat correspondent
Alliteration-happy pundits are predicting a frantic and frenetic final fortnight to the regular season for the Oakland A's after the Texas Rangers yesterday completed a 3-0 series sweep over their divisional rivals. The A's now stand at 84-65, and hold a 4.5 game advantage over the 80-70 Rangers. They are on a 2-7 slide and need to reserve that trend rapidly if they are to hold onto their lead and claim a third straight American League West title.
However, Oakland look likely to at least claim a spot in the AL wildcard game if they do get overhauled by Texas, as they hold a 7.5 game advantage over third-best wildcard team Detroit. Given their 0-2 record in the wildcard game under GM Paulie Beane, they will certainly be hoping to avoid that lottery. Beane's outspoken comments about the wildcard game probably don't help. After their loss in 2020, he was quoted as saying, "It's ridiculous that a 162-game season can be undone by a single game shootout. Let's just do rock, paper, scissors to pick the winner and save everyone the bother."
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