A’s top Seattle in finale to set playoff series vs. White Sox

The postseason picture clarified within a few minutes Sunday afternoon.

First thing’s first: The Oakland A’s beat the SeattleMariners, 6-2, to finish off their regular season with a 36-24 record and, for a half-hour, were un-tethered to a postseason seed.

With the help of Minnesota Twins loss, the A’s clinched the American League’s second seed and a meeting with the Chicago White Sox inthewild card round, a three-game series to be hosted at the Oakland Coliseum.

We at least have an idea of who will start for the A’s; ChrisBassitt will get to pitch against the team that traded him — along with

Marcus Semien and catcher Josh Phegley — for Jeff Samardzija in 2014. Bassitt has said he relishes pitching against the White Sox.

In what game Bassitt may pitch in is unclear. Manager Bob Melvin won’t announce the series starters until Monday, he said. Jesús Luzardo and either Sean Manaea or Mike Fiers are set up to start, or at least appear in, the series.

Because he started Sunday’s game, we know there’s little chance that Frankie Montas will start a game in the wild card series. The performance he delivered Sunday, though, could have solidified a spot for him in a seven-game series. Should the A’s advance.

“If we’re lucky enough to move on, boy that puts him in a pretty good spot as far as the rotation goes,” manager Bob Melvin said after the A’s final game.

Yes, Montas’ performance Sunday was that inspiring.

Even over the short span of 60 games, Montas managed to reach the deepest valleys and highest peaks. He started with a 1.57 ERA, then succumbed to the pains of a back injury that threw hismechanics off kilter and sunk his confidence at the worst time.

In the final game of the regular season, Montas found himself again. Big time. He struck out a career-high 13 Seattle Mariners and allowed two runs, both unearned, in six innings of work.

When toiling in his deepest valleys, Montas struggled with his mechanics and his confidence. To turn things around, Montas regained his confidence first and the mechanical excellence seemed to follow.

“I just went out there and pitched. I didn’t care about what happened,” Montas said. “I’m going to do my best and throw my best pitches today.”

That took some emotional manipulation.

“It just looked to me like the first couple innings he got upset and said, ‘ Heck with it,” Melvin said. “A lot of times you get caught up in mechanics and pitch selection and there’s a lot of clutter. And I think he just pitched with some anger.”

With 97 pitches under his belt after a clean fifth, Montas looked cleared for a clean departure. But with Joakim Soria and Liam Hendriks unavailable, Melvin wondered if Montas could squeeze another inning in. Montas beat him to the punch.

“One more inning would have helped, but the came in and, before I could say anything, said ‘I want one more,’” Melvin said.

Montas struck out the side in the sixth inning, leaving the game with 113 pitches thrown. It was his best performance since he threw seven scoreless innings in back-to-back starts back in early August.

Though his splitter hasn’t been the putout pitch it was in 2019, Montasworkedwell with his slider and fastball — getting 12 ofhis 13 strikeouts off them. His last pitch, though: a perfect splitter Tim Lopes flailed at.

Montas looked confident again, and the performance followed. It came one turn too late to ensure a wild card start for the A’s opening day starter, but it at least provided some assurance for starter depth.