The A’s have spent all season getting their due as a Cinderella story, but no one is really taking them seriously. After all, how could anyone look at this rag-tag group of rookies and unheralded veterans and think that they could possibly come out of the AL or make it out of the 1-game Wild Card elimination game? Could this team possibly be more than just a feel good story? Should they actually be considered contenders? Should their recent sweep at the hands of the Angels and loss of Brandon McCarthy have people concerned?
Well, I’m here to say that this team is for real and they can make some real noise come October. Some people might point to the pitching depth, which is real. Others might point to the incredible rate at which this team has been hitting home runs as a possible reason why they could make the postseason, but not me. No, this team is going to be heard from for reasons that go way beyond the diamond. Sometimes a team comes along that shouldn’t win, but does. Look at the Cardinals of last year. That was a team that up until the final day of the season wasn’t assured a spot in the playoffs. You can even take a page out of the 2010 Giants book to see how teams can come from out of nowhere to storm in to the playoffs and ride the magic carpet that they’ve created during the course of a baseball season. The 2002 Angels had the “Rally Monkey,” the 2010 Giants had Huff’s thong and Wilson’s “fear the beard” mojo, and now the 2012 A’s have Bernie Lomax, the affable yet deceased boss in the iconic flick “Weekend at Bernie’s.”
In all seriousness, this team is a lot like Bernie. Bernie couldn’t be stopped, even in death. Neither the mob nor a group of thieves and voodoo witch doctors could stop Bernie. Much of that had to do with the fact that Bernie was a fictional character and a dead one at that, but I like to think of it as Bernie being immortal. And, if there’s one thing we know about the 2012 A’s it’s that they don’t go down without a fight; i.e. 13 walk-off wins. This team can get swept by the Angels and then reel of a series of incredible, jaw-dropping victories without even blinking. Face it baseball fans, the A’s are for real and they’re going to be heard from during this final stretch of the baseball season.
Back to the Oakland Athletics Newsfeed