Elephant Rumblings: Does Oakland’s September Surge Mean Anything?

A’s Coverage:

• A’s win season’s final home game behind Canha walkoff...
• A's rookie dress-up day included Power Rangers, Marvin the Martian and Matt Olson as Babe Ruth...
• Kurtenbach: Does the A’s September surge mean anything?
• A’s Bruce Maxwell discusses taking knee in Texas, appearing on SI cover...
• Opinion: Oakland must band together in fight against racism...
• Mark Canha had yesterday’s biggest WPA play...

MLB News:

• Twins first team ever to make playoffs after losing 100 games in previous season...
• Pedro Martinez Jr. signs with Tigers...
• Matt Cain will retire after Saturday’s start...
• MLB owners unanimously approve sale of Marlins to Derek Jeter and Bruce Sherman...

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Sam Miller: 27 head-scratching plot holes from 2017...
• Rick Ankiel: Letter to my younger self...
• The Astros built an empire through backwards trade logic...
• Imagining a fan-owned team...
• Woman have been writing interesting things about baseball since the sport began...
• Small sample seasons you might have missed...
• R.J. Anderson: The year of catcher concussions and MLB's battle to do better with head trauma...
• 'Concussion' doctor Bennet Omalu says MLB's seven-day DL is 'a joke'...

Today in Baseball History:

• 1941 - Ted Williams went 6-for-8 in a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A's to finish the season with a .406 average. No player has batted .400 since.
• 1975 - A’s pitchers Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad, and Rollie Fingers combined to no-hit the California Angels, 5-0, on the final day of the season.
• 2014 - The A’s avoid a monumental collapse, saving their season as Sonny Gray tosses a six-hit shutout to beat Texas 4-0 and ensure Oakland's place as the second wild-card team in the AL. The A's had the best record in the majors at the All-Star break, but end up just one game ahead of Seattle for the final postseason slot in the AL.

Best of Twitter:

• Can we get one more this weekend?

• Good on the A’s and the fans...

• The new-home era highlights Big Mac’s dominance. J.D. Martinez’s too...