Athletics beat Rangers to survive collapse and clinch wild-card berth
The Oakland Athletics must believe in the philosophy, “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.” Surviving an epic collapse that spanned early August, when they owned the best record in Major League Baseball, to the final game of the regular season, the A’s beat the Texas Rangers 4-0 on Sunday afternoon to qualify for the wild-card game and eliminate the Seattle Mariners.
Oakland is the last team in after going 16-30 since Aug. 10. The A’s also went 5-8 over the final two weeks to let the Mariners bring the regular season down to the final day.
Sonny Gray scattered six hits and struck out five, following up on a 12-strikeout performance — a loss not his fault — in his previous outing. Josh Reddick opened the scoring against Nick Martinez with an RBI triple in the second, and Stephen Vogt followed with an RBI single to give the A’s a 2-0 lead. They added two insurance runs in the ninth.
If Oakland had lost and Seattle won — and the Mariners were leading the Los Angeles Angels when the A’s clinched — a 163rd game would have been needed to break a tie in the wild-card standings. This way was easier and less complex for the A’s, who have been doing it the hard way since peaking at 72-44. All that matters now is, they’re in for the third straight season.
“This was a little bit harder,” manager Bob Melvin told CSN California inside of a raucous clubhouse. “But some of these things nourish character and makes you tougher.”
Instead of a tie-breaker, Oakland heads to Kansas City on Tuesday for wild-card game that eliminates the loser. They’ll have Jon Lester pitching against the upstart Royals to their first playoff appearance since the 1985 World Series.
It will be the first playoff appearance for Adam Dunn, traded from the White Sox just before Sept. 1, after playing 2,001 major league games in 14 seasons. Dunn was at a loss for words at first when asked about finally having a chance to win the World Series.
“I mean, it’s what you’ve worked for your entire life, your whole professional baseball career,” Dunn said. “It’s a feeling I wish everyone could experience. I mean, look around at these guys. It was hard-fought the last month, but it doesn’t matter. That’s the good news. You get in any way you can get in. We got in.”
More MLB coverage at Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
