A's strikeout total an ongoing franchise record ... not the good kind

The Oakland Athletics are making Major League Baseball history for all the wrong reasons -- they've struck out more than any other team in franchise history in 2012 and are on pace to break the American League record for strikeouts in a season.

Only the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007 had more strikeouts (1,324) than the A's currently have. Oakland needs just three more K's to top that mark.

But the team isn't worried about that number, largely in part to their success this season, where they currently hold the second Wild Card playoff spot in the AL, two games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels. "We have some guys that strikeout a little bit I was looking at the stats as well," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "Knock wood, we're working around some deficiencies, I think we have been pretty good about that all year."

The strikeouts have a silver lining, however. The A's are tied with the MLB lead in home runs since the All-Star Break with 99, and have scored the second-most runs during that same stretch with 339.