Third baseman Kevin Smith’s grand slam completed a seven-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Oakland A’s beat the Texas Rangers 12-11 in a spring training game on Friday.
Smith, a career .164 hitter who has hit just three home runs in 171 major league at-bats, sent the green and gold fan base jumping for joy with his Jake Latz drive that soared over the left field wall.
Kids dove for the ball as the A’s celebrated at the plate and the Rangers walked off the field to play another day.
It may be another long and difficult season by the bay for the grieving Oakland A’s in 2023, but at least they’ll always have March 19. Most forecasters believe the Texas Rangers will finish well ahead of their AL West rivals. this season. But this day belonged to Oakland.
It’s not like athletics fans get carried away or anything…
While the Oakland fans were having fun, the Texas fans weren’t humorous at the time. It’s only spring training, but Rangers fans are among the most frustrated fan bases in all of MLB. The organization isn’t afraid to spend to acquire talent, but things never quite seem to work out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Some see Friday’s loss as a harbinger of eventual undoing for the Texas Rangers.
Some MLB fans received the video of the Oakland A’s spring celebration with utter cruelty. It’s easy to kick an organization when it’s down, and you don’t get much lower than poor Oakland. The team has by far the lowest payroll in the major leagues, and after spring is over, a return trip to the 57-year-old RingCentral Coliseum awaits — burst pipes, crumbling concrete and all.
What the Rangers need to understand is that while the A’s may be given several laps in this year’s World Series race, Oakland has four championships up for grabs since Texas entered the league as the Washington Senators in 1961. they were close, but he lost back-to-back World Series in 2010-2011.
So if today was the World Series in Oakland, that means Texas lost this one too.
Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics at bottom of AL West in 2022
The American League West was led by the World Series champion Houston Astros last season. At the other end of the division standings were the Rangers and A’s. Texas was fourth in the division with a 68-94 record, while Oakland was fifth at 60-102. The teams finished the year 38 and 46 games behind the Astros, respectively.
.
