Oakland @ Los Angeles preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 20, 2018 ) LA Angels 3, Oakland 21

The Oakland Athletics have already secured an American League wild-card berth, so they'll switch their sights to wresting away homefield advantage from the New York Yankees when they begin a regular season-ending three-game road series against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday. Oakland faces an uphill climb to avoid playing at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, though, as New York's magic number to clinch the top wild-card spot is one with a trip to Boston looming this weekend.

"Everything now is just a day-at-a-time mentality,'' Athletics right-hander Edwin Jackson told reporters. "Can't really look too far ahead. We'll find out what's next in due time, and I'll just sit back and enjoy (making the playoffs) and watch us continue to go out and battle and see how many games we can win in this last little stretch." Oakland continues to ride the bat of Khris Davis, who belted his major league-leading 47th home run Wednesday and has 192 career homers in his first six seasons - 132 in the last three years. Los Angeles (78-81) is coming off a three-game sweep of Texas and needs to win its last three games to avoid its first three-year stretch of losing seasons since 1992-94. Mike Fiers is 5-1 with a 2.90 ERA in nine starts since joining Oakland and opposes Jaime Barria, who has enjoyed a solid rookie season.

TV: 10:07 p.m. ET, NBCS California (Oakland), FS West (Los Angeles)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Mike Fiers (12-7, 3.31 ERA) vs. Angels RH Jaime Barria (10-9, 3.54)

Fiers received a no-decision after allowing one run, four hits and one walk while striking out five in six innings of Oakland's 3-2 victory over Minnesota on Saturday. The Athletics are 8-1 in starts made by 33-year-old Florida native, who was 7-6 with a 3.48 ERA while with Detroit before joining Oakland in August. Mike Trout is 6-for-17 with a home run, four doubles, five RBIs, four walks and six strikeouts versus Fiers, who is 3-3 with a 5.16 ERA in nine starts versus Los Angeles after a no-decision this season when he yielded one run over 5 2/3 innings May 30.

Barria received a no-decision after allowing one run, four hits and three walks while striking out three over five innings of Los Angeles' 10-5 loss at Houston on Saturday. The 22-year-old Panamanian has a 1.27 WHIP with 117 hits allowed and 94 strikeouts against 41 walks across 124 2/3 innings this season. Barria, who makes his first career start versus Oakland, had a 3.55 ERA in 13 outings prior to the All-Star Game and 3.53 in 12 games after the break.

WALK-OFFS

1. Trout (.313, 38 home runs, 77 RBIs) needs one run scored to become the seventh player in history with six 100-run seasons in his first seven years (Alex Rodriguez, seven; Hank Aaron, Bill Dahlen, Mickey Mantle, Mel Ott and Albert Pujols, six apiece).

2. Oakland, which is third in the major leagues with 223 home runs, leads baseball with 132 on the road.

3. The teams have split 16 meetings this year as the Athletics try to win their first season series over Los Angeles since 2013.

PREDICTION: Athletics 3, Angels 2