This one's for all the marbles. After 161 games each, the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers will pin their hopes for the AL West title on the final game of the year. Both teams have clinched a spot in the postseason, but the higher seed will be tempting for the home-field advantage and rest it offers.
Oakland has won five straight games since its last loss to the Rangers, including the first two games of their final series. Texas had only needed one win to clinch the division, but lost, 4-3 and 3-1.
Texas will pin its hopes on Ryan Dempster (7-3, 4.64 ERA), and he's not a bad choice. Since coming over from the Cubs at the deadline, Dempster has put together a solid season for the Rangers, with six straight wins against teams not called the Angels. The A's will counter with rookie A.J. Griffin (7-1, 2.71 ERA), who has won 10 of his last 12.
The game will be at 2:35 p.m. CT at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. It will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest and the MLB Network.