ARLINGTON, Texas — Despite both AL West rivals being completely out of the playoff running, the upcoming series will hold a deeper meaning for a lot of disenfranchised baseball fans. The Texas Rangers, meanwhile, get to become the answer to a trivia question: “Who was the last visiting team at Oakland Coliseum to play the Athletics?”
Amidst a tumultuous and dramatic tenure for owner John Fisher in opposition with Athletics fans, which culminated in this somber season after years of dashed hopes and broken promises, the A’s will be moving on after this series to a temporary home in Sacramento before finding a permanent home in Las Vegas after 57 seasons in Oakland.
For that reason, the Rangers will find themselves as the underdogs against the fourth Place Oakland Athletics.
Texas Rangers (74-82, 3rd Place AL West) @ Oakland Athletics (67-89, 4th Place AL West)
Oakland down the stretch
As a malnourished, lame duck franchise on their way out of town, the Athletics were never expected to be contenders in the AL West this year. But since the All-Star Break, they’ve been one of the hottest teams in the American League so in that respect, they can go out with their heads held high.
Finishing July with a 15-9 record and August at 14-12, the A’s have embraced the role of spoiler and disruptor. Now, entering their final home series, the Athletics play for nothing but pride and an opportunity to give their fans some final memories.
Oakland sports a young, inexperienced team with standouts including catcher Shea Langeliers (who tagged the Rangers for a 3-HR game earlier this season), designated hitter Brent Rooker, second baseman Zack Gelof, outfielder Lawrence Butler, starter JP Sears, and closer Mason Miller all trying to form a core for what can be the next contending squad for the California nomads.
Moving stadiums amidst a breakout campaign has all the makings of another Hollywood story for this franchise – but the future remains cloudy. This year, the A’s outperformed their 100-loss season from the year prior so things are looking up from a production standpoint despite things being grim for years from an organizational standpoint.
Nevertheless, the energy is high with the actual players and the cohesiveness is visible in the clubhouse, according to the players themselves and the media. If ownership actually does support the team – a dubious notion considering the track record and franchise uncertainties – the A’s of whatever city will have a chance to be competitive in the coming years.
No one except the most diehard Rangers fans will be rooting for Texas this week as they take on the role of villains in Oakland’s last stand, all amidst a season that fell far short of expectations following a World Series championship.
The matchups
Game 157, 8:40 PM CT - RHP Nathan Eovaldi (11-8, 3.96 ERA) vs. RHP Mitch Spence (8-9, 4.30 ERA)
Game 158, 8:40 PM CT - LHP Cody Bradford (6-3, 3.59 ERA) vs. LHP Brady Basso (1-0, 2.33 ERA)
Game 159, 2:37 PM CT - RHP Kumar Rocker (0-1, 2.57 ERA) vs. RHP J.T. Ginn (0-1, 4.40 ERA)
The Rangers will send their present and their future to the mound in this series against Oakland. Nathan Eovaldi, destined for free agency after this season should he decline the player option he earned by pitching 300 innings for Texas over his two seasons here, will make his final start of the year.
Eovaldi is coming off a couple of rough outings in a row, including one of his worst last time out against Toronto. Against those Blue Jays he gave up seven runs on eleven hits, walking two and striking out just four over 4 ⅔ innings. Despite multiple trips to the injured list, there should still be plenty left in the tank for Eovaldi and he’ll be looking to put on a good performance heading into an important winter.
Cody Bradford, on the other hand, is coming off of one of his best outings of the year. The lefty most recently pitched seven scoreless against Toronto and figures to be a lock for the Rangers rotation in 2025 – but a strong performance in his last outing would go a long way toward cementing that.
Kumar Rocker, making just his third Major League start, closes out the series. The emergent top prospect has given up a run apiece in his first two starts, but hasn’t gone more than four innings in either of them. Coming off Tommy John surgery that delayed his season, Rocker will likely keep to the same 70-75 pitch count, with no reason to try and push that total in his final outing.
Oakland will send three rookie starters to face the Rangers, starting with Mitch Spence. Spence has pitched in 33 games, but made 22 starts in his first season with the A’s. He was moved to the rotation in mid-May and last faced the Rangers at the start of the month, giving up two runs in five innings. He’s coming off another two-run, five-inning performance against the now-eliminated Chicago Cubs.
Lefty Brady Basso takes the hill in the second game of the series, where he will make the fourth start of his big league career overall. Basso was brought up to the rotation with the rosters expanding in September and has been excellent, pitching 11 ⅓ scoreless innings to start his tenure in the rotation. He was touched up for three runs over 4 ⅔ innings last time out against the Cubs, however.
J.T. Ginn was also moved to the rotation at the start of the month and will be making his fifth career start in the finale of the series, the last game to be played by the Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. Ginn more than held his own against the AL East-leading New York Yankees in his last outing, pitching five innings of one-run ball.
This three-game set will be historic for the Oakland Athletics and a sad coda for a franchise with deep roots in the area that it is leaving. The Rangers have been a part of that history throughout the years and now get the opportunity to send the A’s off.
Do you think the Rangers will win their last-ever series at Oakland Coliseum? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
