The 2014 Major League Baseball season is coming to a close and both the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Baltimore Orioles have already clinched their respective divisions in the American League.

The Kansas City Royals currently lead the race for the first wild card spot.

Trailing the Royals are the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners.

Oakland Athletics

What the heck is going on in Oakland? The Athletics had the best record in all of baseball for the first half of the season, but things haven't quite gone their way the last two months. Trading away Cuban outfielder Yoenis Céspedes has proven to be a terrible decision.

The Athletics were a dismal 12-17 in August, and so far 5-11 this September. The Athletics are 10-9 this season against the Mariners, so they do hold the tie-breaker.

The Athletics are currently 83-69, and they're set for a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Josh Donaldson leads the team with 27 home runs and 95 runs batted in this season. Unfortunately, the Athletics are having trouble getting on base.

If the Athletics fail to make the postseason this year, it would be one of the biggest late season meltdowns in recent memory.

The Athletics only have one playoff series victory since 1990. It appears as if sacrificing hitting for more pitching has taken its toll over the years.

Seattle Mariners

Just one win behind the Athletics are the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners are currently 82-70, and they haven't made the playoffs since the 2001 season. Despite playing the best team in Major League Baseball, the Mariners recently split a four-game series with the Angels.

Robinson Cano is having a good first season with the Mariners. The 31-year-old Dominican-born second baseman has a team-leading 178 hits, 35 doubles and a .318 batting average. Kyle Seager and Mike Zunino both lead the Mariners in home runs hit with more than 20 this season.

The Mariners rank 18th overall in runs scored, but their pitching has been among the elite this season. As a team, the Mariners have the lowest earned runs against average in the majors at just 3.03. Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma have a combined 28-13 record for the Mariners this year. Fernando Rodney has been the best closer in baseball with 46 saves.

Both the Mariners and Athletics are in the American League West, so there's a chance we could see three AL West teams make this year's postseason. For that to happen, the Kansas City Royals would have to fail to make the playoffs.

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