The Oakland A's take on the Kansas City Royals tonight in a single-game playoff that will decide who will face the Los Angeles Angels in one of two American League division series.
Our previews for those series will be out tomorrow.
Right now, let's talk about that single-game matchup between Oakland and the Royals.
The A's and Royals don't have all that much in common. They each have different (and moderately) successful ways of winning.
The A's, who were probably the best team in the league for about 4 months, don't score runs anymore. In fact they've been shut out 7 times since July 31, the day they traded Yoenis Cespedes to Boston for Jon Lester; a trade that in many peoples' estimation effectively killed their offensive output.
On August 1st, they were tops in all of baseball in scoring. By the end of August, they were 22nd. They currently rank 24th.
Attempting to replace Cespedes with Adam Dunn - a bonafide slugger in his own right but also a strikeout machine and one dimensional hitter - is only partially to blame for the shift in offensive fortune.
The real culprit just seems to be a combination of injuries, poorly timed errors and a team-wide slump. Baseball, of all sports, is subject to fluctuations in team chemistry and mental strain, and injuries to players like catcher Stephen Vogt and closer Sean Doolittle and the trade of Cespedes seems to have thrown them for a loop.
They're strong defensively, coming in eighth in the majors in Defensive Runs Saved and overall defensive value. And their bullpen has the fourth-best ERA in the second half of the season, though they've only converted 9 of 17 save opportunities.
Their starting pitching hasn't been great; sporting a 3.22 ERA, but the addition of Lester mitigates things.
Really, a rash of injuries and playing in the AL West against the unstoppable Los Angeles Angels, who they would be going up against should they emerge from this game victorious, doomed them in the long run.
But the most important thing going in their favor is that the trade for Lester should be paying off right about now. Lester is a big-time number 1 starter that is usually dominant in October.
Sure, the A's aren't going to outscore a lot of people. But when you're putting Lester on the mound, you probably (hopefully) won't need to.
The Royals on the other hand, will be pitching ace James Shields, formerly of Tampa Bay Rays fame. Shields is also a quality big-game pitcher who was traded for the purposes of winning this season.
(Both Shields and Lester in fact are free agents at the end of the year and neither looks likely to return to their current squads, meaning that one pitcher is about to start the last game he'll ever play for his current squad. Kinda cool.)
Kansas City likes to play small-ball. They finished 9th in the league in runs scored, despite the fact that they also finished last in the league in homers and walks and they don't have anyone on the team with more than 20 homeruns or more than 75 RBIs.
So, how do they win games?
They lead the league in stolen bases and they have the fewest strikeouts. They also play really strong defense and boast arguably the best bullpen in the game.
Eric Hosmer is a Gold Glove first baseman, Salvador Perez may be the best defensive catcher in the game, and the outfield of Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain and Jarrod Dyson is incredibly sound.
The bullpen of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland has really come on of late. Herrera, who usually takes the ball in the seventh, recently had a 30 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings streak.
Davis, who generally takes the eighth, had his own consecutive scoreless innings streak of 31 2/3.
Holland has 40 saves in each of the last two seasons.
Altogether, this makes for one heck of a compelling single-game match up.
There almost assuredly won't be a ton of runs scored. But this playoff is bound to be tense and keep fans on the edge of their seats. A timely hit or poorly timed error could change the entire complexion of the game.
