Athletics win wild West showdown
Yanks clobber Red Sox to claim AL East title
The Oakland Athletics captured the AL West with another improbable rally in a season full of them, rallying from four runs down and a 13game division deficit to stun the two-time defending league champion Texas Rangers 12-5 on Wednesday.
“We knew this is a beast of a team we would have to beat, and to be able to beat them three games in a row and win the division on top of it, really it’s a magical-type thing,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
Josh Hamilton dropped a fly ball in centre field for a two-run error that put the A’s (94-68) ahead 7-5 in a six-run fourth inning.
While Hamilton’s Rangers (9369) are headed to the new onegame, wild-card playoff, the A’s get two days off before opening the division series at Detroit on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a tough matchup,” Melvin said. “They have a very powerful lineup that can certainly score some runs. They also have great starting pitching. We will have our work cut out for us.”
The A’s needed a sweep and they delivered to win their first division crown in six years and 15th in all. They overcame a five-game deficit in the final nine days and took sole possession of the West’s top spot for the first time this year.
“It shows how important Game 162 is,” Oakland’s Jonny Gomes said. “I don’t think it took 162 to games to check the character of this ball club.”
Oakland pulled off another remarkable performance in a season defined by thrilling walkoffs, rallies and whipped-cream pie celebrations by a team that was never supposed to be here.
A club that trailed Texas by 13 games on June 30. A club with a $59.5 million payroll, lowest in baseball. GM Billy Beane found ways to get a blue-collar franchise back to the playoffs for the first time since being swept by Detroit in the 2006 AL championship series. “You can have all the experience as you want but when you run into a team that’s hot, experience has nothing to do with it,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. The A’s join the NL West champion San Francisco Giants as division champions. The Bay Area is already buzzing about a possible Bay Bridge World Series like the 1989 championship swept by Oakland, one interrupted by an earthquake.
YANKEES 14, RED SOX 2: Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson each hit a pair of homers, powering the Yankees past Boston for their 13th AL East title in 17 years. The Yankees completed a threegame sweep of the last-place Red Sox to win their second consecutive division crown. The championship was locked up by the seventh inning, when Baltimore’s 4-1 loss at Tampa Bay became final. Cano tied a career high with six RBIs as New York secured homefield advantage throughout the AL playoffs. The Yankees will open on the road Sunday against the winner of Friday’s wild-card game between Baltimore and Texas.
RAYS 4, ORIOLES 1: Evan Longoria homered three times and the Tampa Bay Rays beat Baltimore, ending the Orioles’ bid to force a one-game tiebreaker for the AL East title. The loss left the Orioles as a wildcard team. They’ll play Friday at Texas, with the winner advancing to the division series.
NATS 5, PHILLIES 1: The NL East champion Washington Nationals secured home-field advantage throughout the post-season by beating the Philadelphia Phillies for their majors-high 98th victory. By winning their regular-season finale, the Nationals clinched top seeding for the NL playoffs and will open on the road Sunday at the winner of Friday’s wild-card game between Atlanta and St. Louis. NL Central champion Cincinnati opens the division series Saturday against NL West champion San Francisco.