Elephant Rumblings: Road trip begins

MLB news roundup

Rise and shine A’s fans!

Yesterday provided a nice off day for the club after playing 13 straight contests. The club hits the road losers of their past two games but will have a chance to go for Win #63 this evening against a hated division rival. First up on this three-city road trip: Houston. We have a three-game series against their AL West foe who look like they’re heading for yet another AL West title. That’s not what we were expecting way back in May when Houston looked unmotivated and had just lost their best player in Kyle Tucker to what we now know was a fractured leg. Since then however they’ve gone on a tear and taken over first place, surprising everyone who hoped that this era of dominance in Houston might finally be coming to an end. Not yet, I guess.

The Astros still have to hold off fellow AL West rival Seattle as they only hold a 4.5 game lead with roughly three weeks to go. Houston is also within striking distance of a first-round bye in the American League, only five wins behind the New York Yankees for the top spot and four behind the Cleveland Guardians for the second spot. Remember, the top two division winners get first-round byes, which is incredibly helpful for setting up your preferred pitching rotation. The A’s will be facing an Astros team with a lot to play for, so the club better be ready and put their best foot forward in the final series against Houston in 2024.

The matchups for the Houston series look like this:

Tuesday: Osvaldo Bido vs. Spencer Arrighetti

Wednesday: JP Sears vs. Hunter Brown

Thursday: Joey Estes vs. Framber Valdez

After the Houston series wraps up the club will head to the South Side of Chicago for a 3-game set against the White Sox. They’re having arguably a worse year than the Athletics did last season, currently sitting at a ghastly 33-111 which puts them at a .229 winning percentage. That would be the worst in modern baseball history and they’re currently projected to end up with 122 losses, which would break the 2003 Detroit Tigers’ record of 119 losses in one season. To put another way, the White Sox are only one more loss away from matching the Athletics’ season loss total from last year, when they were borderline unwatchable. I don’t think anyone expected the playoffs to head to the South Side at the start of the season but who could have thought things would go this south for the South Siders?

To wrap up the second-to-last road trip of the 2024 season the club won’t have to go far. In fact a bus ride ought to do it as the club will travel to the North Side to take on the Chicago Cubs for three games early next week. The Cubs aren’t like either the Astros or Tigers, who are on opposite ends of the winning spectrum. Chicago is on the outside looking in on the playoff bubble sitting at 73-70 as of this writing. The division is likely out of reach as Milwaukee holds a 9 game lead in the division. The Wild Card however is still in play, though things are starting to get serious for Chicago. They only have two teams to leapfrog to sneak into the playoffs but are 5.5 back of the Mets for that final spot. How the next week goes will say a lot about Chicago’s playoff chances but by the time the A’s head to Wrigley they could either be right in the thick of it all or just about completely out of it. Either way they’ll be facing a Cubs team with talent all over the roster.

In short this road trip should have it’s challenges as well as some spots for easy wins. That’s sort of the way it’ll be the rest of the season as the Athletics don’t have one particularly obvious tough stretch left for the club. Let’s just take it one game at a time though.

Have a great Tuesday Athletics Nation!

A’s Coverage:

• Oakland A’s improving, but how will they add on?
• Mason Miller named A’s nominee for Roberto Clemente award
• Recent A’s Draftee Off to Huge Start in Double-A
• The Fords Of A Devoted Baseball Fan And His Departing Team
• A’s stadium public funding challenge thrown out by Nevada judge
• 21 relatives reunite for their final, family Oakland A’s game
• Athletics’ Lawrence Butler Supplements Hitting Streak With Historic Power

MLB News & Interest:

• Yankees finally recall top outfield prospect Jasson Dominguez
• Rangers’ top pitching prospect Kumar Rocker to make MLB debut Thursday
• Shortstop Carlos Correa eyeing return soon
• Mets elect to rest Blackburn during Blue Jays series
• Bo Bichette on Future in Toronto, Long-Term goals
• Longest-tenured Met and 1969 WS Champion Ed Kranepool dies at 79
• Chris Getz wants to make ‘best of’ lost White Sox season
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

What an accomplishment!

Carlos Perez has been having a quietly awesome season for the Aviators:

But not an All-Star…

For those interested: