The Oakland A’s lost their first playoff game on Tuesday, 4-1 to the Chicago White Sox, in especially frustrating fashion. It was almost literally a rerun of the 2019 Wild Card Game, with homers off their starting pitcher, a lone run from their own offense, and one brilliant multi-inning performance by a reliever in the middle innings. Read all about it here.
But even in a ho-hum loss, there can be some positive takeaways. Here are three good things that happened in Game 1, as we look toward Game 2 of the best-of-three Wild Card Round series.