Rays Defeat Athletics in Wild Card Game

It was yet another playoff disappointment for the Oakland Athletics. They were eliminated in the American League wild card game for the second year in a row. Last year, they saw their season ended by the New York Yankees. This year, the Tampa Bay Rays eliminated Oakland by a score of 5-1. This type of loss is nothing new for Oakland under general manager Billy Beane. This is the ninth time in a row that the Athletics have lost an elimination game where they had to win in order to move on. The Rays won the game on the strength of home runs. This was surprising because the Rays did not hit a lot of home runs during the regular season.

Billy Beane is widely considered to be one of the best general managers in baseball. He has been able to consistently put together a team that is competitive on a very small budget. In fact, there was a book written about the success he has had that was called “Moneyball.” The book was turned into a movie of the same name starring Brad Pitt as Beane. However, the teams that Beane has put together have failed to win a World Series during his tenure. In fact, they have not even been able to even reach the World Series a single time.

The Rays are very similar to Oakland. Both teams are forced to compete with a very small budget. However, they are more successful in the regular season than many of the teams that spend twice or three times as much as they do. The Rays won 96 games and the Athletics won 97. Now the Rays will move on to face the Houston Astros in the American League Division Series. The first team to win three games in the series will advance to the American League Championship Series.

It is a bitter pill to swallow for fans of the Oakland Athletics. They have had so many tough losses in the playoffs over the past 20 years. However, the Rays have had a great year under manager Kevin Cash. They surprised everybody and finished with a much better record than the Boston Red Sox. This is noteworthy because the Red Sox have the highest payroll in baseball and the Rays have the smallest. Only time will tell how far the Rays will be able to go this year. It depends on their pitching.