A’s sweep Cleveland in baseball and also Connect 4

I didn’t even know it was possible to win a game of Connect 4

The Oakland A’s had quite a successful week in Cleveland. They played three baseball games against the Indians and won all three of them, with a comeback victory Tuesday, another comeback victory Wednesday, and a 17-0 blowout Thursday in the finale. On top of that, they also came out on top in a game of Connect 4.

You see, while Cleveland may or may not rock, one thing it definitely does is rain* a lot, more often than almost any other major city in the United States. That included Wednesday, when a brief storm delayed the game by an hour.

* For readers in the Bay Area, rain is when water falls from the sky, just indiscriminately all over everything

With some extra time on their hands, and a viewing audience to entertain, the two baseball clubs stayed warm with a friendly game of Connect 4. Fitting that they chose a game produced by Milton Bradley, since the MLB player of that same name played prominently for both teams during his career.

The A’s presented the idea to their opponent.

Challenge accepted.

A’s wasted no time getting spicy, talking some smack about their comeback the previous night.

A’s then nailed the Moneyball reference. (Remember, in the movie Billy Beane poaches Peter Brand from Cleveland, and in real life Paul DePodesta also made that same switch.)

Beginning to workshop Guardians jokes for next year.

Ouch. This tweet is the closest thing Cleveland had to a win all week.

Now the commentary simmers down and the competition gets serious.

Cleveland’s next move looks odd at first but soon you’ll see how they’re setting something up. Meanwhile, Oakland gets three in a row on the diagonal but I’m not sure that Cleveland sees it yet.

Cleveland makes their bid on a diagonal, but Oakland sees it and blocks it.

Oakland blocks another early attempt at a Cleveland diagonal.

No idea what Cleveland was going for here.

Is Cleveland trying to build up an entirely new diagonal in the left corner? That will never ever work.

That does indeed appear to be what Cleveland is doing. And while they’re focused on that, Oakland quietly makes their move on the three-diagonal they’ve had sitting there for the whole game.

Cleveland didn’t see the setup! Oakland wins!

Sweep!