The Oakland A’s are a couple hours away from starting the final game in a three game series at Texas. The A’s picked up game one and two by beating the Rangers 9-3 and 5-3 respectively. Texas has now dropped to 9 games back and is all but out of it. There are just 31 games left in the season for most teams. If the Rangers are going to keep hope alive, they must win tonight and get back to within 8 games. Since they are trailing a second team—the Angels—the task is twice as difficult.

As of this writing the Angels are getting pounded into submission by the Yankees. The AL West just might be decided tonight. If the A’s win, they will go up by 6.5 games against the LA Angels with just a month to go. The A’s have been playing like champions of late. What about the Rangers? They’ve lost two straight crucial games are 6 of their last 10. Tonight just might be the swan song for the Rangers season. The real threat for the A’s is the Angels.

The A’s are sending Dan Haren to the hill tonight. His last outing was absolutely disgusting. He gave up 8 runs over two innings. Oakland left him in the game and got 5.2 innings out of him. In total, he allowed 9 runs over 11 hits, 2 walks and 2 homeruns. Will tonight be better? He does have some good outings against the Rangers, but sweeping a team on the road is a difficult task.

To counter, the Rangers are sending out Vincente Padilla. He’s been up and down of late. His last two outings where so-so, but the two before that were pretty good. He last pitched against Oakland on August 9. He went 7 monster innings allowing no runs. He struck out 6 in that game. Can he do it again? The Rangers bullpen is tired and needs a break. Padilla and the Rangers need 7 good innings tonight. Anything less and this bullpen could get eaten up.

If you are going to watch this game, pay attention to the last few innings. It could come down to bullpen effectiveness. Oakland fans have the brooms out. Personally, I think the Rangers are going to snatch one here and avoid the home sweep.