The Oakland A’s Matt Olson prepares to take his cuts in the cage as the Oakland A’s hold workouts at the Oakland Coliseum on Mon Sep 28, 2020 in preparation of the ALWC series against the visiting Chicago White Sox (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–The 2020 American League playoffs start on Tuesday, September 29th. The Oakland A’ finished with a record of 36-24 to win the American League Western Division title. The A’s will be the second seed in the AL.

The Minnesota Twins also had the same record as the A’s. They will be the third seed as their intradivision play’s record was not as good as the A’s. The A’s will now play the seventh seed, the Chicago White Sox.

Had the A’s been the third seed, they would have been playing the Houston Astros. The Astros finished with a record of 29-31 and were 3-7 vs. the A’s this season. The A’s now face a team with a better record. Chicago was first in the Central Division on September 19th. The team went into a tailspin at the end of the regular season and was 1-7 in their final eight games. They finished with a record of 35-25.

It will be difficult to predict a winner in this best two out of three Wild Card series. The A’s lost the one-game Wild Card to New York in 2018. The Tampa Bay Rays sent the A’s home last year as they beat the A’s at the Coliseum.

A’s manager Bob Melvin will probably use lefty Sean Manaea in the first game, Chris Bassitt in the second, and Mike Fiers in the third game. All three have been pitching well lately. The A’s bullpen has been stellar all season. Melvin will have starters Frankie Montas and Jesus Luzardo available to pitch in relief.

He will call on Yusmeiro Petit, T.J.McFarland, Jake Diekman, Joakim Soria, Lou Trivino, and closer Liam Hendriks to shut down the Chicago offense. The A’s offense has been an area of concern for the team. They are hitting, as a team, a woeful .225. They are striking out too much. The A’s, in a short series, have to correct the hitting problems. If not, they will not be advancing to the AL Division Series.

The A’s pitching will be facing a team loaded with power hitters. The White Sox have two players that are in the running for the AL MVP trophy. Their big first baseman, Jose Abreu, is hitting .317, with 19 home runs and 60 RBI’s in 60 games.

Shortstop Tim Anderson’s numbers are .322, ten dingers, and 21 RBIs. Their power-hitting DH is the veteran Edwin Encarnacion. Carnarcion is not hitting for average, but he still can belt the ball out of the park. Nick Madrigal will play second, and Yoan Moncado will be at third.

Leftfielder Eloy Jimenez is hitting .296, with fourteen bombs and 41 ribbies. The young man from Cuba is living up to his potential. Former Texas Ranger, Nomar Mazara, will be in center-field, and rookie Luis Robert, also from Cuba, will be in right. Robert is hitting .233 and has eleven big flys and 31 RBIs.

Yasmani Grandal and James McCann will handle the catching chores for the Chisox. Grandal, a switch-hitter, will see most of the action.

The White Sox have announced that Lucas Giolito will start the Tuesday game. Giolito has never started a game in Oakland. A’s first baseman, Matt Olson, is four-for six with two home runs facing Giolito. Chad Pinder is 2-for 5.

Lefty Dallas Keuchel goes on Wednesday. Keuchel is 4-2 with a 3.47 ERA in the playoffs. Chisox relievers include Evan Marshall, Matt Foster, lefty Gio Gonzalez, Jace Fry, Codi Heuer, Jimmy Cordero, Aaron Bummer, Carlos Rodon, and closer Alex Colome.

It should be an exciting series. Will the A’s pitchers be able to shut down the potent White Sox Offense? Will the A’s bats come alive in the series? Whose bullpen will be better? The A’s hope to have the answers as they try to advance to the ALDS. The first game of the series will start at noon PDT on Tuesday.