No matter how optimistic you might be, it’s hard to look at the Houston Astros’ lineup and rotation and see the A’s challenging for the AL West crown in 2018. The wild card, though, is a different story.
Already the A’s have shown signs of being a .500 team, they have gone toe to toe with the Yankees at Yankee Stadium two days in a row, and if you are a .500 team you are a hot streak, or a key player emerging, from maybe being an 85-87 win team. 85-87 win teams have won wild card spots — most recently, in 2017 the Minnesota Twins rode 85 wins to the one-game playoff.