The A's Force Game 162: Bring On The Blue Snow

Not Oakland, At Least, Not Yet

Tonight in Oakland, the A's made the first 161 games of the regular season irrelevant, by beating the Rangers for a second straight game. Tomorrow, at 12:35 local time and 3:35 Eastern time in front of a nationwide MLB Network audience, they play for the AL West division championship.

No, seriously.

A team with a $55 million payroll, that plays in the only multi-sport stadium still in use in MLB, who routinely draws in the four figures, who have spent the last six years bleeding away talent while waiting to get a building that will let them get to the nine-figure budget range to compete, who start four -- FOUR! -- rookies in the starting rotation and a lineup peppered with guys that are the baseball equivalent of driftwood...

Will play the two-time defending American League champions, with money to spare in a more or less model organization. After eliminating a team that signs the most expensive players in baseball year after year.

Now, the thing about Blue Snow Years is that everyone expects them to end, and when they do, you are supposed to just be thankful for the Blue Snow.

And that is... complete bullspit.

The A's are starting A.J. Griffin, who has been lights out. Texas is going with Ryan Dempster, who was great in the NL, horrific in his first month in Texas, and good ever since. Texas lost 2 of 3 in Anaheim before this, and didn't do much against the A's when they had the chance to end them last week in Texas. They don't look good right now, but these things can, of course, turn on a dime, and the A's bullpen might be on the verge of breakdown, seeing how good they've been for so long, and that closer Grant Balfour has worked three straight games.

But enough of all of that. Win today, and you avoid the wildcard one and done possibility. You might even get home-field, seeing how crazy close the AL is right now, and you can rest and set up your rotation.

Because that's the thing about Blue Snow Years: you know that things aren't going to bounce your way so much the next year, and that if you don't finish the deal now, it's just a nice year. Rather than, well, a legendary one.

Go A's.