By Morris Phillips

In introducing Josh Donaldson for the Home Run Derby, ESPN’s Chris Berman captured the lofty mid-summer status of the Oakland A’s succinctly as only Berman can.

“They have the best record in baseball! They have the most All-Stars!”

And with the A’s rival to the south, the Angels surging, they may have the most competition as well.

The Angels captured 26 of their final 35 games heading into the break to give the AL West the two best records in baseball. With only 1 ½ separating the two teams, a Giants-Braves circa 1993-type race could be looming in the second half.

“They’re a different beast than what we’ve seen the last couple of years, so it’s going to be a dogfight,” A’s reliever Sean Doolittle said of the Angels.

While the A’s have been dominant with their pitching and consistent, opportunistic offense, the Angels have the best home record in baseball (32-15) and arguably the game’s best player in Mike Trout.

And before the A’s and Angels get carried with themselves, it appears both will have to be mindful of the Mariners who are in place to capture the second wild card berth with their 50-41 record, When asked about the race, Doolittle didn’t hesitate to mention the outstanding rotation the Mariners are building with Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Roenis Elias, Chris Young and Tijuan Walker. Walker, the top prospect in the Mariners’ organization is expected to take a rotation spot in the second half.

While the A’s and Angels have the best home records thus far, the Mariners have the second best road record (27-18). If the Mariners simply improve their home record (24-26) they could make a move on the two leaders. Beating the A’s two of three at Safeco Field was clearly a big step in that direction.

For all three clubs, moves in the next two weeks prior to the trade deadline could be critical. The Angels have been up front about wanting to add bullpen depth, if not a closer to go with incumbent Joe Smith. The Mariners need to find another proven offensive contributor to an attack that has scored 88 fewer runs than the A’s and 100 fewer runs than the Angels.

And the A’s would seem to be in the market for infield help where the production from their second basemen has been lacking and Alberto Callaspo is currently on the disabled list.