The Oakland Athletics (39-49) face the Cleveland Indians (41-44) for the final three games before the All-Star break. The recently streaky club is riding a three-game winning streak that followed streaks of three games losing and five games winning. They are 10 games back of the American League leading Kansas City Royals and are in seventh place in the Wild Card standings, trailing the Twins by 4.5 games for the second Wild Card.
The Indians and A's offer interesting variations on team building, featuring Cleveland's "stars and scrubs" against Oakland's balanced roster.