A's right not to panic after ALDS Game 1 loss to Astros originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The A’s already have faced elimination in the 2020 MLB playoffs. Twice.
That happened after losing the AL Wild Card series opener to Chicago White Sox and prompted many to paint a picture of doom and gloom over the green and gold following a predictable playoff pattern.
Get in and go home.
That has happened a ton recently, in both one-game playoffs and longer series. This year’s response to adversity snapped several streaks of postseason futility and rendered all those historical points moot.
This A’s team is not like the others. This A’s team rallied. This A’s team performed under pressure. And that experience has given them lasting confidence.
That’s why there was no panic following Monday’s 10-5 loss to the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium. They lost Game 1 of the AL Division Series to a division rival they’ve beaten most of the year.
Ho-hum. They didn’t even burn calories raising an eyebrow.
“We’re not, by any means, panicking,” A’s right-hander Chris Bassitt said. “Win tomorrow. Play our game without worrying about all the extra crap and stick to the script.”
This wasn’t emotion in his voice, another telling and positive sign considering there’s no love lost between the A’s and Astros. A borderline contentious rivalry stayed calm and focused on the field Monday, with neither team slinging arrows in postgame media sessions.
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There’s a ton at stake here, with every town but Houston rooting for the A’s after the Astros got caught stealing signs. This isn’t just a showdown of competitive rivals.
This is Jedi vs. Sith. And Obi-Wan never let emotion take the wheel.
The A’s can’t do that here, and have done a good job avoiding that thus far during a best-of-five series played out in as many days. The longer the series, the better odds the better team wins out. The tighter the schedule, the more depth plays a part.
The A’s are a deeper team. The A’s are a better team. Can they show that after this setback? They fully believe they can.
“Knowing that we have a couple more games in this series is good,” A’s first baseman Matt Olson said. “We lost. It happened. We have to look at it as us having to win three times in a four-game series. We have done that plenty of times. We have to come back tomorrow and win that game.”
They have done that several times this season with far less on the line. The A’s should be ready for a massive game on Tuesday with a bit less margin for error.
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Maybe we’ll look back at this postseason run and losing at the outset will be a trend. At least now the A’s know they can come back from a deficit and play well when the pressure’s on.
They’ll have to do that against a seasoned Astros team that surely wants to make this a short series.
“Everybody wants to win Game 1,” A’s skipper Bob Melvin said. "We didn’t in the last series and faced two elimination games and responded well. I expect that tomorrow.”
