Photo credit: @Athletics

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

Before the start of the 2018 season, Las Vegas bookmakers’ odds for the Oakland A’s to win the World Series this year were 300 to 1. I am sure Pete Rose would love those odds today. However, things have changed since the opening of the season. It is baseball after all, and in the words of Joaquin Andujar, “you never know.”

The A’s have been on a roller-coaster ride the last 10 days. They went to Arlington and swept the Rangers in four games, went to Denver and got swept by the Rockies at Coors Field, then they returned home and just ended a three-game sweep of the woeful Toronto Blue Jays, and on the 11th day, they rested. This Thursday, the red-hot A’s are off, which gives them time to play some golf, catch up on new movies, and relax with their families, until the Detroit Tigers come to Oakland this Friday.

The A’s have the fourth best record in the MLB. Only the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Houston Astros have better records. So the Green and Gold would be in first place in the American League Central and in each of the three divisions in the National League.

We will see if the A’s bandwagon fills up very soon this coming weekend when the Tigers make a brief, two-game stop in Oakland, Calif. The A’s attendance is still next to last in the AL, trailing only the Tampa Bay Rays.

Prior to the game against the Blue Jays last Wednesday, I had a nice talk with A’s manager Bob Melvin in the A’s dugout. He is dubbed as “Melvin the Magician,” and without a doubt, one of the best managers in the game. He is on his way to a possible third Manager of the Year award.

Now with 600 wins, only Connie Mack, Tony LaRussa, and Art Howe have more wins as a manager in the 50-year history of the A’s. I hope the A’s keep this man for a long time as their skipper, as he is the perfect manager for this ballclub.

At this time, and after the A’s swept the Blue Jays at the Coliseum, combined with a Mariners loss in Seattle against the Astros, the A’s are now tied with the M’s for the second spot in the division and a possible Wild Card slot. With 52 games left, starting this Friday, the whole thing becomes extremely interesting. The A’s still have 10 games left with the M’s and six with the Astros. Plus, a very good Yankee ballclub will be making their only visit to Oakland in early September.

It has been 27 years since the A’s last World Series. I vividly remember I was calling their games in Spanish back then, including the time there was a great run with LaRussa’s teams from 1988-90.

Maybe the young, exciting A’s will go all the way this year. After three consecutive finishes in last place, one thing is for sure, history will not repeat itself in 2018, but only God knows what the A’s have in store for the next two months.

So get ready for the A’s bandwagon to fill up soon!

Listen to the A’s in Spanish on KIQI 1010 AM and 990 AM radio in the Bay Area and Sacramento, Calif. Also, tune into the SAP (Secondary Audio Channel) on NBC Sports California to see and hear the games in Spanish.