Agree on the need to mention 1967, 1969, and 1970, but I'm glad you included 1988. My memory of 1988 was that we were going on a strong clip but couldn't catch Oakland. It felt like literally match for match: if we won, Oakland won that day; if Oakland lost, we lost. It happened that I was driving cross-country, east to west during that time (beastly hot summer, by the way). When I got to the Bay Area, in August, I remember watching the newscast, and the announcer saying, "The A's won today, so, of course, that means the Minnesota won also." I felt so vindicated that someone else noticed this bizarre pattern. But in September, we ran out of steam and couldn't keep up Oakland's pace.