The New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners both have their eyes on the Oakland Athletics.For the Yankees Kenny Lofton Jersey , it’s one of those “objects are closer than they appear” in the rear-view mirror. For the Mariners, a blip ahead on the horizon seemingly getting smaller by the day.That’s the state of the American League’s wild-card race as the Yankees enter a three-game series starting Friday night in Seattle.Article continues below ...The Yankees are 87-53 with a 3 1/2-game lead over the surging A’s (84-57) for the first of two wild-card berths. The Mariners at 78-62 are 5 1/2 games behind Oakland with 22 games remaining in the regular season.The Yankees and Mariners both got a close view of the A’s in the past week. The Mariners split a four-game series in Oakland last weekend and the Yankees just lost two of three there to open a 10-game trip.If the Yankees face Oakland in a wild-card game, they certainly hope it’s in New York. The Yankees have lost 18 of their past 25 games in Oakland, including six of the past seven.“I want to get rolling, no question about it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Wednesday’s 8-2 loss, in which ace Luis Severino allowed six runs (five earned) in 2 2/3 innings. “I think we’re doing some things well, but we’re not certainly rolling like we’re capable of. We’re starting to get some guys back, which is really important, but we’ve got to play better if we want to get to where we want to go.”Shortstop Didi Gregorius is expected to return to the Yankees’ lineup Friday after missing 2 1/2 weeks with a contusion on his left heel.Right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (10-5, 3.83 ERA) is scheduled to start the series opener against Mariners left-hander James Paxton (11-5, 3.74). Tanaka is 6-0 with a 2.34 ERA in seven career starts against Seattle; Paxton will be making his second career start against the Yankees after suffering a 4-3 loss June 21 in New York in which he allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits in 5 2/3 innings.The Mariners, who in mid-June led the Athletics by 11 1/2 games http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-jim-thome-jersey , had a skirmish in the clubhouse — reportedly involving shortstop Jean Segura and second baseman/center fielder Dee Gordon — before Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Baltimore.“Things happen in a clubhouse,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “You’re talking about 25 — or now in this case, now 35 — of the most competitive guys you’re ever gonna be around, and you spend basically every waking moment together all the time.“Certainly with how our season has played out, we just haven’t been consistent. And the frustration mounts from a number of different places.”The Mariners rebounded Wednesday to defeat the Orioles 5-2, taking two of three games in the series.“Sometimes it’ll bring teams together,” Servais said after the scuffle. “Sometimes certain things hit a boiling point and you gotta get something off your chest and you go from there.” NEW YORK (AP) — The baseball players’ association made the second high-profile addition to its staff in a less than a month, hiring Gary Sheffield business lawyer Xavier James as deputy chief operating officer.James will report to Kevin McGuiness, the union’s chief operating officer since January 2014. James has worked as a special adviser to the union and received $215,168 from it in 2017, according to the union’s financial disclosure statement.Last week, the union announced Bruce Meyer as its new senior director of collective bargaining and legal. Meyer will report directly to union head Tony Clark, who appears to be reforming his senior management ahead of bargaining for a labor contract to replace the deal that expires after the 2021 season. Some players have criticized the free-agent markets under the current five-year agreement.James Manny Ramirez Jersey , who turns 51 on Sept. 23, is a former attorney at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where Meyer also worked. James has undergraduate, law and business degrees from NYU, and also has worked with boxers and other athletes.A resident of suburban White Plains, James said Wednesday he was introduced to Sheffield more than a decade ago after he wrote a letter for DeLeon, the outfielder’s wife, in a matter with a swimming pool contractor. He had known DeLeon Sheffield through a mutual friend.“Players are not necessarily getting their equitable piece of the pie in terms of all the business revenue that’s out there,” James said. “On the operations side, the organization is so small that it behooves everyone to kind of pitch in to make sure from a business perspective players are treated fairly.”James anticipates negotiating deals alongside McGuiness and Tim Slavin, the union’s chief of business affairs and licensing senior counsel.“I think there’s a lot of revenue that’s out there that could be leveraged on behalf of the players, a lot of opportunity that could be originated by players that will generate revenue Danny Salazar Jersey ,” James said, referring to sponsors and licensees.Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred criticized Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout, a two-time AL MVP, in July for failing to do enough to market himself.“Mike’s a great, great player and a really nice person, but he’s made certain decisions about what he wants to do and what he doesn’t want to do, and how he wants to spend his free time and how he doesn’t want to spend his free time,” Manfred said before the All-Star Game.Trout responded with a statement “everything is cool between the commissioner and myself.”“I think it behooves everyone to pitch in to market players. The onus shouldn’t be on players necessarily. I think it’s a collective effort,” James said. “I think the macro issue is a real issue, which is how best can we market players, and I think that issue is right to be raised. I don’t think there should be any criticism or a focus on any particular player. I think we should put our heads together to see how we can resolve quote-unquote the problem and ameliorate the marketing of players.”