A’s officially eliminated from playoff contention
This Oakland A’s team has grown accustomed to gutting eliminations. When high expectations meet their demise, the exact moment of truth hits hard.
That moment of truth came Wednesday night in Seattle. Seth Brown’s fly ball landed in center fielder Jarred Kelenic’s glove to seal the A’s 4-2 loss to the Mariners. Now four games back of the Mariners in the wild card race with three games to play in the regular season, the loss officially eliminated the defending American League West champions from postseason contention.
Eliminations may be the norm around Oakland, but not without a postseason berth and champagne celebration first. At least of late.
The end of this run marks the first time since 2017 that the A’s haven’t made the postseason. Matt Chapman lingered in the visiting dugout to watch the Mariners celebrate their 12th straight win against the A’s. A team with low pre-season expectations surging to keep their postseason dreams very much alive, the Mariners looked like the A’s of three years ago.
Soccer
EARTHQUAKES’ WINNING STREAK SNAPPED BY SOUNDERS » The San Jose Earthquakes saw their twogame winning streak come to an end and a chance to creep closer to the playoff line slip away in a 3-1 home loss to the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday night.
The Quakes had to play catchup most of the match after Raul Ruidiaz scored two first half goals for the West-leading Sounders (155-6, 51 points). The Earthquakes (8-10-9, 33 points) are in 10th place in the West, and they are four points under the playoff line. San Jose has seven games remaining and returns to action Saturday night at Vancouver.
Basketball
WARRIORS COACH STEVE
KERR REPORTEDLY THE FAVORITE TO COACH US OLYMPIC TEAM » Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr could lead Team USA into Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, according to a report Thursday morning.
Kerr is a favorite to succeed San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich as the head coach of the USA Basketball senior men’s national team, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
Kerr is a two-time champion on the international stage, most recently as an assistant on Popovich’s staff at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. He also took home gold as a player in the 1986 FIBA World Championships. AP SOURCE: NBA VACCINATION RATE CLIMBING, NOW TO 95% » The NBA has seen a rise in vaccination rates in recent days when factoring in those players who have received at least one of the necessary shots, a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
The leaguewide rate is now around 95% when counting those who are now at least in the vaccination process, said the person, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the NBA nor the National Basketball Players Association released the figure publicly.
Football
JACKSON MISSES 2ND STRAIGHT PRACTICE WITH BACK ISSUE » Lamar Jackson missed practice for the second straight day because of a back issue.
Jackson was listed on the Baltimore Ravens’ injury report.
Jackson held a typical interview session with reporters shortly before practice
Wednesday, and there was no indication anything was wrong, but he was not on the field that day or Thursday during the portion of practice open to reporters.
Horse racing
GULFSTREAM OPENS A SYNTHETIC COURSE, JOINING TURF AND DIRT » Emoji Guy was the first horse across Gulfstream Park’s newest finish line.
Gulfstream’s new racing surface made its debut, and with that the South Florida track becomes the first in the U.S. to offer races on traditional dirt and turf courses as well as an allweather synthetic option.
Motor sports
QATAR TO HOST F1 RACE FOR
FIRST TIME IN NOVEMBER » Qatar will host a Formula One race for the first time in November and for 10 years from 2023.
Qatar takes the remaining slot left vacant on this year’s reshuffled calendar. The race will start under floodlights at 6 p.m. on Nov. 21.
Olympics
BOXING BOUTS FIXED AT 2016 OLYMPICS, INVESTIGATION FINDS » Boxing bouts for medals at the 2016 Olympics were fixed by “complicit and compliant” referees and judges, an investigation reported.
Investigator Richard McLaren was appointed by the International Boxing Association, known as AIBA, and found AIBA officials selected referees and judges to ensure that bouts could be manipulated in Olympic qualifying and at the Rio de Janeiro Games.