Toward the end of the regular season, there was a sizable contingent of A’s fans that were afraid to face the Astros.
The fear was not out of a belief that the A’s couldn’t beat Houston, but that the A’s wouldn’t beat them (because, up till last week, they wouldn’t beat anybody in the playoffs). The thought of losing to the putrid cheaters was so horrific that it could not be entertained. The thought of losing that comes about because the A’s always lost in these situations.
However, after last week, that thought isn’t there, and instead it’s replaced by an at times brash confidence with an underlying sense of purpose.