The A’s entered Wednesday night’s American League Wild Card Game with a full house and a team seemingly poised for a playoff breakthrough.
They ended up with more heartbreak and an abrupt end to their season in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays before a season-high home crowd of 54,005, a record for any Wild Card Game.
It was another playoff broken record for the A’s, who won 97 games during the regular season, and their fans.
Oakland has lost the Wild Card Game three times in the past six seasons and hasn’t won a playoff series since the 2006 ALCS against the Twins.