CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
The Oakland A's new Bash Brothers, Yoenis Céspedes and Josh Reddick, have the A’s thinking playoffs.

The Oakland Athletics are hot in the second half of the 2012 season; if they weren't in the same division as the Texas Rangers, they would dominate the American League West standings. Not only dealing with the Rangers, they also have to deal with the under-achieving L.A. Angels, who are about .500, but the fact that they do not have the division title is disappointing.

Why the Oakland A's are hot?
I don't have the slightest idea, other than their pitching. They are ranked 29 out of 30 in batting average, and ranked 26 in on base percentage. Think about that movie Moneyball, where the team changed their game to become successful. Moneyball was based on the true story of building a professional baseball team on a small budget — that team was the Oakland Athletics in the early 2000s.

Their pitching and the long ball is what keeps them on top of the AL Wild Card standings. Their earned run average is 3.39 (which ranks third) and their opponent batting average is ranked fourth.

Their ace in the starting line-up was 39-year-old Bartolo Colon, until he was suspended 50 games in late August for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. What makes Oakland such a great pitching staff is their bullpen, anchored by closer Grant Balfour, who only has 27 career saves through an eight year career in the MLB. He established himself as an elite set-up man in Tampa Bay in 2008. The set-up man is underappreciated in the public eye, but is a key part of the bullpen and to any winning ball club.

So how are they generating runs?
Josh Reddick. Batting a respectful .250 — well, maybe not too respectful, but when he hits the ball, it travels far; 28 homeruns on the year and batting in 75 runs through the year. He reminds me of Nick Swisher, who plays for the New York Yankees: he hits the ball far, but will strike out a lot. Currently Reddick leads the MLB in strike outs with 135.

It's really all in the outfield; Reddick, Coco Crisp and Yoenis Céspedes. You have a solid batting line-up to build around with these players and what they bring to the ball club: speed, power and contact.

What makes me a skeptic of the Oakland A's is the fact their defence isn't above par. Going into the final stretch of the season, they have 92 total errors (only better than 10 other teams in the MLB). We are familiar with the cliché in any sport that "defence win championships," and for this team's sake, where the pitching depends on getting batters out by putting the ball in play, when it matters I can't trust the Athletics' defence.

Will we see a championship this year in Oakland?
Well, it would add to their fan base after the success of the motion picture Moneyball, although I don't see a championship in Oakland. In playoffs I can't see the A's beating Texas in the first round — the numbers indicate it would be a close series: head-to-head both teams have six wins, but Texas is far too strong and consistent, and the fact that Texas is on top of this very competitive division backs up my argument.