{"id":672610,"date":"2026-04-10T17:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T17:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/672610\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T17:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T17:15:23","slug":"series-wins-over-astros-yankees-hint-at-as-postseason-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/672610\/","title":{"rendered":"Series Wins Over Astros, Yankees Hint at A&#8217;s Postseason Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Early-season results can be misleading, but taking two of three from both the Houston Astros and New York Yankees offers a compelling early signal that the A&#8217;s may be built to contend for a postseason berth. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">On Thursday, April 2, the Astros were 5-2 and sitting atop the AL West. The A&#8217;s ended up taking the first game in a blowout, then losing the second game in a blowout the other way, before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/athletics\/onsi\/news\/a-s-turn-to-j-t-ginn-for-friday-start-vs-mets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brent Rooker&#8217;s<\/a> two home runs propelled them to victory on Sunday. The Astros ended up getting swept by the Colorado Rockies to begin this week and now sit at 6-7, a half-game above the A&#8217;s. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">The Yankees were an impressive 7-2 on Monday, and were throwing out Cam Schlittler and his 0.00 ERA on the season, along with Will Warren&#8217;s solid 2.70 to begin the year in the first two games. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/athletics\/onsi\/news\/a-s-closer-by-committee-is-creating-a-late-game-problem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The A&#8217;s bullpen blew the first game<\/a>, but they got to Schlittler for three runs while Aaron Civale held the pinstripes at bay. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">On Wednesday the A&#8217;s came back late with a run in the top of the ninth before new addition Joel Kuhnel collected his first save since 2022. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Welcome to the team, Joel. You&#8217;re the closer now.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByJasonB\/status\/2042058252977107113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Jeffrey Springs held the Yankees without a hit into the seventh inning on Thursday, and was followed by Justin Sterner in the eighth and Hogan Harris in the ninth to close out a tight 1-0 at Yankee Stadium. These are not games the A&#8217;s typically win in this fashion. The last time the A&#8217;s won 1-0 at Yankee Stadium was 1979. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">They held the Yankees to seven runs in three games, which is a run total they&#8217;ve tallied in single games three times already this season.<\/p>\n<p>Most impressive stat<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knv0hy17y9cdjc9d49.jpg\" alt=\"Max Munc\" title=\"Max Munc\" width=\"5386\" height=\"3029\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7h\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Apr 9, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; Athletics third baseman Max Muncy (3) runs the bases after hitting a double against the New York Yankees during the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">Winning two of three against the Yankees on the road is a solid feat no matter the weather or the circumstance. New York is always ready for the A&#8217;s best punches, and they&#8217;re typically ready to counter at a moment&#8217;s notice.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">But the one number that stood out the most in this series was zero. As in the A&#8217;s hit zero home runs the entire series, and still managed to take home a series win. This is a group that is built upon power, and they have big bats up and down their lineup. But they also have guys that can lay down the bunt or take a pitch the other way in the right situation. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">Obviously the cold had something to do with the home runs being limited for both squads, but each team was playing in the same conditions all series long. The A&#8217;s just came out ahead. <\/p>\n<p>Huge momentum push<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">The fact that both of these teams were in first place when the series began is a big deal, since the A&#8217;s were just 1-5 a week ago, and have managed to rattle of four of six against two of the tougher teams in baseball. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"80\">Not only is the opening stretch of Blue Jays, Braves, Astros and Yankees a tough one, but they didn&#8217;t get off on the right foot in those first two series. Now, with another big series against the Mets about to begin, the A&#8217;s are starting to get things rolling, and are sitting at 5-7. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"83\">Another series win this weekend would put them at 7-8 against some of the better teams in baseball to begin the year. A sweep would have them at 8-7. Of course, getting swept would also put them at 5-10 and in a much worse spot. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"86\">This Mets series is going to be a tough one, with Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga and Freddy Peralta lined up for New York. But if the A&#8217;s get back to Sacramento having gone roughly .500 during this gauntlet stretch\u2014well, they&#8217;ll be greeted by the first-place Texas Rangers. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"89\">For more A&#8217;s insight and analysis, make sure to follow Jason on X\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByJasonB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@ByJasonB<\/a>\u00a0or BlueSky\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/jasonburke.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@JasonBurke<\/a>\u00a0and the site&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100086762468556\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook page<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early-season results can be misleading, but taking two of three from both the Houston Astros and New York&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2376],"tags":[5,4,1690,62,2548,2547,142],"class_list":{"0":"post-672610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-yankees","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-yankees","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkyankees","14":"tag-yankees"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116381544277895965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}