Matching up against A’s x-factor Stephen Piscotty

(Ezra Shaw/Getty)By now, you should know the 2018 Athletics are not the 2017 Twins. The 2017 Twins were a pushover 85-win team that essentially backed into the second wild card spot because the rest of the American League was so bad. The 2018 Athletics won 97 games and, despite playing in the spacious Oakland Coliseum, they finished third in home runs (227) and fourth in runs (851) this season. They are scary.

Oakland’s offensive attack is led by 48-homer man Khris Davis, the all-around excellence of Matt Chapman, and the steadiness of Jed Lowrie. First baseman Matt Olson is exactly the kind of left-handed hitter who could pop a ball or two into the short porch in tomorrow night’s Wild Card…