Oakland As it is necessary to find out AL West’s competitors in order to maintain the post-season hopes

The Oakland As will face the edge of the post-2021 race, but they are not yet completely out of it. With 13 games left, they are just two behind the second Wild Card in the Toronto Blue Jays and just two in the losing column behind the first Red Card in the Boston Red Sox.

These last 13 games, however, face a couple of opponents who have given As tons of trouble all summer. Seven of them are with the Seattle Mariners, who are 8-4 against Oakland, and six with the Houston Astros, who are 9-4. Only the Blue Jays (5-2) succeeded almost as much against green and gold.

• vs.HOU: Lost 5/7 in April, lost 2/3 in May, lost 2/3 in July
• vs. SEA: Split 6 games in May / June, lost 3/4 in July, 2 lost in August

Houston’s dominant record has a huge +35 run difference, but Asattle has surpassed Seattle in five runs. Two of the losses to the Mariners came from a bullfight, and the other was a draw during the ninth set, and seven of the eight losses were due to just one or two sets. However, the loss of melee games has been a problem for Oakland throughout the year, and outperforming performance has been a hallmark of Seattle, so nothing can be easily eliminated.

Remaining schedule:

• 4 games vs. SEA
• 3 games against HOU
• 3 games @ SEA
• 3 games @ HOU

As postseason odds are already in the 10% range, and their only hope to get back into the playoffs is to continue collecting winnings. They have to do it by jumping back against the teams they have been least able to beat so far.

In addition, these are a couple of competitors in the AL West division, and either winning them or polluting them would add value. The Asterisks in particular continue to play villains around MLB, and they ended the As 2020 playoffs last fall at ALDS. Celebrating the shocked aftermath of bullying on the ground would be as sweet as their official elimination would be bitter.

The stakes are high, but the payout may be too high. The Mariners are still stuck in the Wild Card competition, so winning them this week would also mean knocking the competitor to the end of the road. In the division race, Astros will lead Oakland with six games, so while it’s probably out of reach, six head-to-head matches means it’s not closed yet.

The most important thing is As necessary to win. They now have a five-game tube, all against less than 500 races, but they have to stay hot against their own personal 2021 regular season final bosses.

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Tap this week to start including feeders Marco Gonzalez, All-Star Yusei Kikuchiand former Cy Young Zack Greinke, ball Tyler Anderson (3.67 in ERA 9 starts trading after the deadline), Chris Flexen (3.66 ERA), Frame it Valdez (3.26 ERA) and Jose Urquidy (3.38 ERA).

Hot bats this month are in Seattle Jarred Kelenic (6 homers, 171 wRC +) and Mitch Haniger (5 HR, 126 wRC +) and most of Houston’s regular stars (Tucker, Altuve, Bregman, Correa, Alvarez).

Flat, Sean Manaea gets a start against the Mariners tonight. He ruled them twice, including closing in June and then 13 strikes in July. Frankie Montas will face the opening match against Astros, which he won this year in two of three attempts, a total of four runs in nearly 18 innings. All-Star Chris Bassitt may return from injury this week, and the struggling bullfinch just added the abandonments of the new arm.

Oaklands ’lineup is in 4th place in MLB in September, and almost everyone is swinging well at the moment. Mark Canha and Matt Olson are two particularly hot bats, and both have also crushed Houston this year, while Olson has crushed Seattle (5 homers, 3 from Gonzales, 1 from Kikuchi).