Late Monday night, the Oakland Athletics — a team, some may be surprised to learn, that competes in the same sport as the Giants, right across the Bay — clinched an AL playoff spot. They've racked up 95 wins and retain an outside shot at hosting a home game, if they overtake the Yankees in the final few games of the regular season.
The experts, to put it lightly, did not project this ascendance. In March, Bleacher Report pegged them as a last-place team. The stat nerds at Fangraphs projected an 80-win season, and only 3 of their 40 experts picked them as a wild-card contender.