Believe it or not, the A’s reached first place in the American League West

The Oakland A’s have been charging hard for two months, and their story has morphed from “Here’s who the Yankees will play in the American League Wild Card Game” to “Holy cow they could actually win their division.”

The A’s beat the Houston Astros on Saturday, 7-1, the second straight victory over their division rivals to start this weekend series in Oakland, to pull into a tie for first place in the American League West.

Oakland was under .500 this season as late as June 16, at 35-36, and at their relative lowest was 11½ games behind the Astros in the AL West. But the A’s have won an astonishing 40 of their last 53 games, with the division looking like this with just over six weeks left to play:

Oakland 74-49 (.602)
Houston 74-49 (.602)
Seattle 70-53 (.569)

This is the first time in four seasons that the A’s have been in first place after April, and a huge turnaround after averaging 91 losses the last three years.

The A’s have turned things around thanks to a strong offense, one that banged eight doubles in Saturday’s win, an effective bullpen that was bolstered by deadline deals for Jeurys Familia, Shawn Kelley and Fernando Rodney, and a surprise trio of starting pitchers able to turn back the clock.

Trevor Cahill threw seven scoreless innings on Saturday, lowering his ERA down to just 3.12. Cahill and fellow 30-somethings Edwin Jackson and Brett Anderson have combined for a 3.17 ERA in 36 starts for Oakland, after those three last year had a collective 5.39 ERA in 215⅓ innings.

There is still a long way to go this season, and after Sunday’s series finale in Oakland the A’s and Astros play one more series, at the end of August in Houston.

The only two major league teams with a better record than the A’s and Astros are the Red Sox (87-36, .707) and Yankees (76-46, .623). The way Oakland is playing, catching at least New York is an attainable goal, whether it is for potential home field advantage in the Wild Card Game of the AL Division Series.

That this is even a consideration at this point is a testament to how well the A’s have been playing, and at this point they can’t be counted out of anything.