MLB
AL Wild Card Review: Yankees Too Much For Upstart A’s
What started as a night filled with optimism for Oakland faithful very quickly turned into a night of frustration. From Innings 1-9 the A’s plain and simple got beat. The Bronx Zoo was loose and the A’s struggled to combat it. Starting off the game down 2-0 was not ideal to start off an AL Wild Card Game. And they could not overcome it in the end.
1st Inning
For the Yankees, Severino came out firing turning that Yankee Stadium energy into his personal adrenaline. Casually hitting 97 and up on his fastball. It was not the same story for A’s opener Liam Hendriks. Hendriks, looking rattled by the moment, gave up a leadoff walk to McCutchen. Then came on Aaron Judge to prove his wrist is healthy by launching an incredible Home Run, the hardest hit in postseason history according to Statcast 116 MPH.
4th Inning
The A’s worked Severino into deep counts all night with nothing to show. Finally, in the 4th they would get their first two hits chasing Severino. But even with two runners on and nobody out, the A’s could not get the runs home. It would be that kind of night for Oakland and only get worse.
6th Inning
It was a competitive game until the bottom of the 6th. Melvin tapping 41-year-old Fernando Rodney to face the deadly 2-3-4 of the Yanks. Judge doubles, Hicks doubles in Judge, wild pitch to Stanton moved Hicks to third. Just like that on five pitches, the Yankees were close to putting this game out of reach. Melvin then turned to his superstar closer, Blake Treinen. And if A’s fans were feeling hopeless before, this would put the nail in the coffin. The A’s dominant closer walked Stanton on 8 pitches, then gave up a loud triple off the top of the right-field wall to Luke Voit. A sac fly by Gregorious made it 6-0 and it was all but over for the green and gold.
8th Inning
It was not all doom and gloom for the A’s though. In the Top of the 8th, the AL Home Run Champion Khris Davis sent one to the bleachers off of Zach Britton (maybe Buck Showalter knew what he was doing in the 2016 AL Wild Card). This would be the only offense that the A’s could muster. In the bottom half, any whiff of a comeback was silenced when Stanton took Treinen’s last pitch to Mars to give the Yanks a 7-2 lead.
Final
It was just not meant to be for the A’s and the “Opener” this year, losing 7-2 in the Bronx. But what a season from a team that wasn’t even supposed to be there. After a 75-87 last-place finish in 2017, the 2018 A’s did more than improve. Finishing 97-65 and pushing the Astros for 1st place in the West, this team has a bright future ahead of them. Being lead by people like Davis, Treinen, and Chapman. If they keep this group together and invest in winning, this team could be deadly for a long time to come.
