Series Preview: Oakland Athletics (86-66) @ Texas Rangers (90-62)

Source: Kevin Jairaj – US Presswire

This series is the epitome of what September baseball is all about. Texas takes on an Oakland team who lost their last two series against Detroit and New York, while Texas won it’s series against Los Angeles and lost the series to Seattle. Four games separate these two teams in the standings and Texas has a magic number of seven. A sweep of Oakland would officially allow Texas to have it’s third consecutive West Division title in hand.

Series at a Glance:

      Texas Record: 90-62 (1st AL West)
Oakland Record: 86-66 (2nd AL West, 4 GB)

Season Series: 6-6 tied
Record at Texas: 2-4

Notable Transaction: On August 31, 1992, in the middle of a game, the A’s traded OF Jose Canseco to the Texas Rangers for Rubén Sierra, Jeff Russell, and Bobby Witt.

Probable Starters

Monday 7:05 – TEX: LHP Derek Holland (11-6, 4.42 ERA/4.57 FIP) vs. OAK: RHP Daniel Straily (2-1, 4.13 ERA/6.46 FIP)

Tuesday 7:05 – TEX: RHP Yu Darvish (16-9, 3.90 ERA/3.30 FIP)  vs. LHP Tommy Milone (13-10, 3.86 ERA/4.05 FIP)

Wednesday 7:05 – TEX: LHP Martin Perez (1-2, 3.78 ERA/4.37 FIP) vs. RHP Jarrod Parker (11-8, 3.40 ERA/3.39 FIP)

Thursday 1:05 – TEX: Matt Harrison (17-10, 3.17 ERA/3.95 FIP) vs. LHP Travis Blackley (5-3, 3.48 ERA/3.83 FIP)

Starters:

1. CF Coco Crisp
2. DH Seth Smith vs RHP
3. RF Josh Reddick
4. LF Yoenis Cespedes 
5. 1B Brandon Moss vs RHP
6. 3B Josh Donaldson 
7. SS Stephen Drew
8. C Derek Norris
9. 2B Cliff Pennington vs RHP

Bench:

1. C George Kottaras  
2. 1B Daric Barton 
3. 1B Chris Carter vs LHP
4. 2B Jemile Weeks
5. IF Brandon Hicks   
6. IF Adam Rosales vs LHP
7. OF Collin Cowgill 
8. OF Jonny Gomes vs LHP 

Bullpen:

1. CL RHP Grant Balfour
2. SU RHP Ryan Cook 
3. SU LHP Sean Doolittle
4. MID RHP Pat Neshek
5. MID LHP Jerry Blevins   
6. MID LHP Pedro Figueroa
7. MID RHP Jim Miller
8. MID RHP Evan Scribner
9. MID RHP Jeremy Accardo 
10. MID RHP Tyson Ross 
11. LR RHP Jesse Chavez

**(source MLBDepthCharts)

For more information on the Athletics, please visit their FanSided page at Swingin’ A’s.