September 13, 2012 — Every time the Texas Rangers win and the Oakland Athletics win — which is most nights during the last month — I feel like it’s some mutually beneficial action that is going to result in some ultimate positive.

It’s good to know that I have a gut feeling that is so blindly positive.

Because when I think about it logically, there’s very little chance that this is good for either the Rangers or the A’s. They’re like two very clever college students at somewhere like Harvard. They’re in a competitive field, like physics I guess or architecture or law (honestly, I’m not sure which collegiate fields are the most competitive). By competing with one another, most people would assume they’re making each other better. But maybe they’re just burning each other out, while some slacker at somewhere like Texas Tech is going to end up being in the right place at the right time to end up being way more successful.

That’s what I think will happen to the Rangers and A’s.

With 20 games left in the regular season, the Rangers and A’s have made the American League West the best division in baseball inasmuch as the second-place A’s would be leading four of the other six divisions in Major League Baseball, including every division in the AL. Whichever team wins the AL West will likely end the season with the best record in the AL and earn home field advantage in the playoffs. Meanwhile, whichever team finishes second will have to play in a single-elimination Wild Card game (note: this is the first year of this new format as MLB expanded to 10 playoff teams). That means the second-place team, which could (very likely) end up with the second-best record in the American League and be out of the playoffs before they ever really begin.

And this is where my gut instinct turns negative because I get the feeling another ball club, possibly even a Wild Card, will end up getting hot in October and winning the World Series.

Photo via Zimbio.

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