A’s seize early pressure window

The Athletics walked into Yankee Stadium at 3-6, lost the opener 5-3 on April 7, then flipped the series with a 3-2 win on April 8 and a 1-0 win on April 9. By Friday morning, April 10, they were 5-7 instead of staring at 3-9. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) (espn.com 3) That matters because the American League West was bunched up on April 11. Texas led at 7-6, the Los Angeles Angels were 7-7, the Athletics were 6-7, Houston was 6-8, and Seattle was 5-9. (mlb.com) So the opening is simple: nobody in the division had run away, and Seattle had already dropped to 5-9 with a 1-5 road record. In a five-team race, that kind of start keeps the door open for any club that can stack one good week. (mlb.com) Oakland’s New York trip gave them that week. The schedule had three games at Yankee Stadium from April 7 through April 9, then three more at Citi Field against the Mets from April 10 through April 12, which meant a chance to turn one East Coast swing into six road games against two playoff-caliber markets. (mlb.com) They kept it going on April 10 by beating the Mets 4-0 at Citi Field. That pushed the Athletics to 6-7 and gave them a four-game sample in New York in which they allowed only 7 total runs. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) The Yankees series is the part that changes the mood. New York was 8-5 and still first in the American League East on April 11, so taking two of three in the Bronx was not a soft landing spot against a weak opponent. (mlb.com) The Athletics Nation note on April 10 pointed to right-hander J. T. Ginn getting the start that night in New York, which showed how thin these early stretches can get. When a club is already reaching for rotation depth in its 13th game, stealing low-scoring wins becomes even more valuable. (athleticsnation.com) The next hinge in the month is already on the calendar. After the Mets series, Oakland comes home for four games against Texas from April 13 through April 16, then goes to Seattle for three games from April 20 through April 22. (mlb.com) That is why the Yankees series was more than a nice upset. It moved Oakland into those division games within one game of first place on April 11, instead of trying to dig out from the bottom by late April. (mlb.com) In a 162-game season, April usually feels like loose change. In the American League West on April 11, the gap from first-place Texas to last-place Seattle was only 2.5 games, so one road series in the Bronx was enough to change who gets to apply pressure next. (mlb.com)