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As bad as things got for the Oakland Athletics in August and early September, and they were historically bad for a while, the A's are still in a decent position for a team on the verge of one of baseball's greatest collapses.

Even after Wednesday's 5-4 loss to the Angels, Oakland is tied with Kansas City for the American League wild-card lead and three games ahead of Seattle with four games to play.

The A's have their ace, Jon Lester, lined up to start the wild-card knockout game Tuesday. If they win and advance to the division series, most likely against the Angels, they will have one of baseball's hottest pitchers, Jeff Samardzija, lined up for Games 1 and 5 of the first round.

They also have superb young right-hander Sonny Gray and resurgent left-hander Scott Kazmir to fill out what would be one of baseball's best playoff rotations.

"In the words of Lou Piniella, there are a lot more doors in the house besides the front door, you know?" Oakland outfielder Jonny Gomes said. "All you have to do is get in. You don't have to go in the front door. I'm sure there are quite a few teams that would love to switch places with us right now."

That was definitely true Aug. 10, when the A's had baseball's best record, 72-44, a four-game AL West lead over the Angels and an 11-game wild-card lead.

Then the injuries mounted, a Yoenis Cespedes-less lineup stumbled, and the A's went into a tailspin, losing 22 of 31 games from Aug. 10 to Sept. 12 to fall 11 games behind the division-winning Angels, a 15-game swing in the standings in 33 days.

To put that in perspective, the 1995 Angels, who suffered one of the worst collapses in baseball history, went from 101/2 games up Aug. 16 to three games back Sept. 26, a 131/2-game swing in 41 days.

An A's offense that averaged five runs per game before the All-Star break scored 3.4 runs per game during the slide, losing 10 one-run games. Oakland has been shut out seven times since Aug. 1. That has put a huge strain on the pitching staff, especially the bullpen, and there were a few late-inning meltdowns.

"Some guys wanted to step up and carry the team for a bit and were pressing," closer Sean Doolittle said. "We always felt like we were close to turning the corner, but we were never fully able to round it. It was always one step forward, two steps back."

More here:
A's lose to Angels, 5-4, but still have a good shot at playoffs