A’s relief pitcher John Axford correctly picks 17 of 24 Academy Awards

Axford has correctly picked 66 of 81 Oscars picks (81.5%) in the last four years.

Feb 29, 2016, 5:02 AM UTC

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Oakland Athletics relief pitcher John Axford has made a bit of a name for himself in recent years with his astonishingly accurate Oscars picks. That continued on Sunday night with the 88th Academy Awards, with Axford correctly predicting 17 of 24 picks (70.8 percent).

Axford, who earned a bachelors degree in film, television and theater from Notre Dame, correctly predicted 14 of 15 Oscars picks in 2013, then was a perfect 18-for-18 in 2014. In 2015 Axford expanded his selections to include all categories, and still got a respectable 17-of-24, his same total this year.

That history of success earned Axford a spot on the Good Morning America experts panel, and on Sunday the relief pitcher revealed his selections on The Players’ Tribune.

Axford was particularly high on Mad Max: Fury Road, correctly predicting six Oscar wins for the film he called “the singular ‘you have to see this in a theater’ movie experience of 2015.” But Axford also wisely foresaw big awards (Director, Actor) going to The Revenant, along with Best Cinematography.

Axford had The Revenant also winning Best Picture, but that went to Spotlight.

In the order the awards were presented on Sunday, Axford got the first 10 picks right, until Best Visual Effects.