Oakland Athletics fans celebrate seven-run rally in ninth inning to beat Texas Rangers in Spring Training: "Early favorite World Series champions"
Third baseman Kevin Smith's walk-off grand slam completed a seven-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 12-11 in a spring training game Friday.
Smith, a .164 career hitter who has hit just three home runs in 171 big league at-bats, sent the green-and-gold fanbase into leaps of joy with his blast off of Jake Latz that soared over the left field wall.
Children dove for the ball as the Athletics celebrated at home plate, and the Rangers trudged off the field to play another day.
The A’s put up 7 RUNS in the bottom of the ninth including a WALK OFF GRAND SLAM https://t.co/Oz5RVLGhFA
It may be another long, difficult season by the bay for the woebegone Oakland Athletics in 2023, but at least they'll always have March 19. The Texas Rangers are figured by most prognosticators to finish well in front of their American League West Division rivals this season. But this day belonged to Oakland.
Not that Athletics fans are getting carried away or anything ...
Early favorite World Series champions twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
@Athletics https://t.co/bYwMXnVDTQ
@Athletics Oakland A's 2023 World Series Championship story starts here
While Oakland fans were having fun, Texas fans saw no humor in the moment. It's just spring training, but Rangers fans rate among the more frustrated fanbases in all of MLB. The organization doesn't exactly shy from spending to acquire talent, but things never seem to quite work out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Friday's defeat is being seen as a harbinger of eventual Texas Rangers doom by some.
@TalkinBaseball_ Rangers moment
I just vomited in my mouth. Who the fuck is Kevin Smith? twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
@TalkinBaseball_ Rangers bullpen in mid season form I see
Some MLB fans met the video of the Oakland Athletics spring celebration with outright cruelty. It's easy to kick an organization when they're down, and it doesn't get much further down than poor Oakland. The team has by far the lowest payroll in the major leagues, and after spring ends, a trip back to the 57-year-old RingCentral Coliseum awaits – broken plumbing, crumbling concrete and all.
You know you’re a poor organization when you don’t have names on the back of the jersey twitter.com/talkinbaseball…
@TalkinBaseball_ Still lose the division by 60 games
@Athletics @MLB it’s spring training this is your world series
What the Rangers must understand is that while the Athletics might be lapped several times over in the running for this year's World Series, Oakland does have four championships in hand since Texas entered the league as the Washington Senators in 1961. The Rangers came close, but lost consecutive World Series in 2010-2011.
So, if today was Oakland's World Series, that means Texas lost this one, too.
@TalkinBaseball_ Highlight of their 2023 season right here
Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics at the bottom of AL West in 2022
The AL West was led by the World Series champion Houston Astros last season. On the other end of the division standings were the Rangers and Athletics. Texas was fourth in the division with a 68-94 record, while Oakland was fifth at 60-102. The teams ended the year 38 and 46 games behind the Astros, respectively.