The Oakland Athletics head into this week's six game stretch tied with the Texas Rangers two games back of the Los Angeles. The A's were actually a game back heading into last week but a 3-3 stretch leaves them a second game back. The AL West remains incredibly bunched up with the Mariners only four games back of first.
The Rangers will have the biggest opportunity to make some noise this week as they host the A's and then the Angels. The A's will face Chicago after Texas, while LA will face Chicago before Texas. The Mariners travel to Baltimore and Cleveland. If the A's can put together a solid week, they could at least slide the Rangers down into third place in the AL West.
We'll continue to include the American League wildcard standings in these updates, but given how the AL West race could shape up, I have a strong feeling the wildcard will not be coming from this division. It's worth noting that over the last couple of years the wildcard leader as of today ended up either winning the wildcard or switching places with the division leader, who then won the wildcard. It's a small sample size, but it's at least noteworthy.