On an autumn Sunday at the Network Associates Coliseum, the 90-70 Oakland Athletics were facing off against the last-place Texas Rangers. The A’s had taken the first two games of the series and were holding on to a half-game lead over the Seattle Mariners who had ended up holding on to first place the majority of the season.
At stake was an ALCS bid with the second place team in contention with the Cleveland Indians for the wild card berth. With an earlier one game cancellation in the season, the A’s needed not to worry about a makeup game because they held all tie breakers with a win.