Magic #14

Screw the woofing gods--it's a done deal.

Because now it is official -- the Athletics control their own destiny.  You hear that phrase a lot but when it becomes a very real statement, it truly means something.  What do I mean?  Well, everyone should know what the magic number symbolizes; it's the number that represents the combined Athletics wins added to the combined Angels losses that will ensure that the division is clinched.  With seven games left to play against one another, "controlling destiny" is very real.

Now, expecting the Athletics to win all seven games against the second place Rally Monkey is absurd.  But, it is interesting to point out that it could happen.  And, hypothetically, if it did happen, that would be the 14 combination of win/losses, by both teams, that reduce the magic number to zero and it would not matter how poorly the Athletics did or how well Angels do against the other teams that they still have to play.  Hell, the Athletics could lose the rest to everyone else while the Angels won the rest against everyone else (as long as the Athletics took all seven against Angels) and it's still a done deal.

The scenario above isn't likely though.  A team just doesn't completely shut down the other for two series that last seven games.  So, let's shoot very cautiously here with another scenario -- one where Athletics close out playing .500 against the rest of its schedule and go 2-5 against Rally Monkey (sounds familiar, doesn't it?)

With 19 left to play for the Athletics, going .500 against the rest of its schedule means going 6-6.  With 18 left for the Rally Monkey, winning five out of seven against our Green & Gold would also mean having to go 7-4 against the remainder of its schedule.  This is "do-able" for the Rally Monkey when you consider how well they can play and how well the Athletics have played in the last week+.  However, if the Athletics could just find a way to go .500 against everyone else and, this time, take a hypothetical four of seven from the Rally Monkey, then nothing the Rally Monkey could do would be good enough to stop their elimination.  I've written it before: if the Athletics cannot close this thing out, then they truly will be deserving of the onslaught of ridicule from the sports world.

Still, I'm an eternal optimist so I really do believe that and that the division is in the bag -- even though the team has been doing everything it can to open that bag back up.  Athletics really do control their own destiny.