Happy Wednesday everyone.<\/p>\n
Last night, the National League (NL) Division Series continued with two Game 3s. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the series, while the San Diego Padres staved off elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.<\/p>\n
This afternoon, there is a full slate of playoff action. In the American League, the Chicago White Sox will attempt to sweep the Cleveland Guardians, while the New York Yankees will look to prolong their season as they welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to the Bronx.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the bracket, the Dodgers and Braves will play Game 4 in Atlanta, with the Braves hoping to force a decisive fifth game. Across the country, the Padres will look to win a second consecutive game in front of their home fans and send the series back to Milwaukee for a winner-take-all Game 5.<\/p>\n
With the Athletics not in the playoffs, the organization\u2019s focus has turned to its first true search for a new general manager in nearly three decades. Aside from a few rumored candidates, there has not been much buzz about who will succeed longtime executive David Forst, a role the team hopes to fill by the start of the World Series.<\/p>\n
While most A\u2019s players are spending these days resting and preparing for next season, a handful of the team\u2019s minor leaguers are playing in the Arizona Fall League (AFL), an annual showcase for some of baseball\u2019s top prospects. Many youngsters use the opportunity to expand their skillsets or get crucial at-bats or innings they missed this season because of injuries.<\/p>\n
Among the A\u2019s contingent, catching prospects Davis Diaz and Cole Conn are two players to keep an eye on. Both versatile players advanced to Triple-A this season and could compete for the major league backup catcher spot next season.<\/p>\n
Of the pitchers, only right-hander Kenya Huggins is currently ranked on MLB Pipeline\u2019s list of the A\u2019s top 30 prospects. Right-hander Jay Dill and left-handers Tucker Novotny and Grant Richardson could crack the list if they pitch well in the AFL.<\/p>\n
Which A\u2019s minor leaguer will perform the best in the AFL? What are your predictions for how the rest of the playoffs will unfold?<\/p>\n
This thread breaks down how the A\u2019s can make right-hander Jack Perkins more reliable.<\/p>\n
What steps can the A\u2019s take this offseason to improve their pitching staff and defense for 2027?<\/p>\n
Yesterday marked the birthday of legendary former A\u2019s and Raiders announcer Bill King.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy Wednesday everyone. Last night, the National League (NL) Division Series continued with two Game 3s. The Los…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2391],"tags":[537,27977,5,4,3226],"class_list":["post-824647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-athletics-news","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-athletics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117405965607839393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824647","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=824647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}