Oakland Athletics Roundup: Oscars Night With John Axford

The Final Results: Oscars Night with John Axford
Oakland Athletics Roundup: Monday, February 29

Oakland Athletics’ reliever John Axford deserves a healthy round of applause after his Oscars effort on Sunday night, when he went 17-for-24 in predicting the winners of the 88th Academy Awards. He correctly named the best actor and actress, and nailed plenty of lesser-known categories like sound mixing, film editing, and costume design.

Axford, who was a film and television major at Notre Dame and earned a Bachelor of Arts in the field, has made a habit of correctly predicting the Oscars. In 2014 as the Cleveland Indians’ closer, he went 18-for-18 on major categories. Last year, he went 17-for-24 as well.

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There were a few categories in which he did not do as well, including missing out on the Best Picture winner:

Best Orginal Song: Axford picked Lady Gaga’s ‘Til It Happens To You’ instead of the winner, ‘Writing’s on the Wall’.

Best Live Action Short: The award went to Stutterer, but Axford selected Ave Maria.

Best Documentary Short: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness took home an Oscar instead of Body Team 12.

Best Visual Effects: Much like fellow Athletics’ reliever Sean Doolittle, Axford went with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Ex Machina was the actual winner.

Best Animated Short: Axford picked Sanjay’s Super Team, but the Academy picked Bear Story.

Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, who starred in Bridge of Spies, beat out Axford’s pick: Creed‘s Sylvester Stallone.

And finally….

Best Picture: Axford predicted that The Revenant would take home the ultimate Oscar night honors, but thought Spotlight was a sleeper candidate. His second guess was the right one: Spotlight won Best Picture.

Overall though, it was a solid night for the reliever. Let’s just hope he pitches as well he picks Oscar winners!

In Case You Missed It:

Tyler Ladendorf Likely Backup Third Base Option – While Danny Valencia is set to be the A’s third baseman, there are few options for a reliable backup. Andrew Dambrauskas argues that Tyler Ladendorf is the best choice.

Reconsidering the Jon Lester Trade – Mark Sigmon argues that there’s no reason for all of the hatred for the Jon Lester trade. Was it a better move than previously thought?

A’s Need Additional Starting Pitching Depth – Samantha Riley makes the case for why the Athletics need to stock up on some starting pitching depth, especially considering their most recent trades.

2016 Preview: Outfielder Billy Burns – Will Billy Burns be able to repeat his first-pitch swing success? Katrina Putnam argues that he’s perfectly capable of having a strong sophomore season, given that he didn’t fade in the second half – and he has a fallback option if it does become necessary to take a different approach.

Can Mark Canha Make the Cut After Coghlan Trade? – Casey Witt answers the question of whether Mark Canha has a place on the team now that Chris Coghlan, Khris Davis, and Yonder Alonso are around to take plenty of at-bats away from last year’s Rule 5 sensation.

#Athletics

Next: Swingin' A's Seeks New Writers For Upcoming Season

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