Photo credit: @athletics_fanly

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants and the A’s will see a lot of each other in this next week.

Both teams are enjoying seasons that have exceeded preseason expectations and both sport winning records heading into this weekend. This will be on a crash course right for each other for the next six regular-season games, with the annual All-Star Game sprinkled in between.

The Giants head into the Battle of the Bay with a bit of momentum on their side, which was especially needed after the thumping they took in Colorado a week ago, being swept in three games by the Rockies.

They have since turned it around, splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals and then taking two of the three-game series with the Chicago Cubs, who disposed of them in the 2016 playoffs before going on to win the World Series.

The A’s, meanwhile, are riding a huge wave. They currently have a 53-41 mark after taking three out of a four-game series from the defending World Series champ Houston Astros and have won 19 of their past 24 games overall.

Madison Bumgarner (2-3) will take the hill for Friday’s opener against Oakland righty Edwin Jackson (1-0). Bumgarner has won two of his last three decisions and came out with a victory despite giving up four runs to the Cardinals in only 5 1/3 innings on Sunday.

Jackson won his only decision this year on June 30, when he surrendered only a pair of runs over 6 2/3 innings to the Cleveland Indians. He faced the Indians again on Saturday and surrendered three runs on five runs but ended up with a no-decision.

Jeff Samardzija (1-5) will try to turn his season around on Saturday when he takes the ball opposite Oakland’s Brett Anderson. Andrew Suarez (3-5) will look to continue his positive momentum on Sunday against A’s righty Sean Manaea (8-6), who has a no-hitter to his name this season.