An SF Giants Fan Guide to the MLB Divisional Series

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The Oakland Athletics defeated the Chicago White Sox in the Wild Card Round and now will take on the Houston Astros. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

SF Giants Rooting Interests: Astros vs Athletics

Oakland Athletics reliever Yusmeiro Petit (a.k.a the patron saint of long-relief) is the only former Giants player on either team’s roster. However, there are other connections between the Giants and the organization on the other side of the Bay.

Of course, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi started his career in pro baseball with the A’s where he worked very closely with Billy Beane and other members of Oakland’s front-office. Michael Holmes, the Giants director of amateur scouting, was brought over from the Athletics organization when Zaidi took over.

A’s first-base coach Mike Aldrete was drafted by the Giants in the 7th round of the 1983 MLB draft. He spent his first three big-league seasons in San Francisco before the Giants traded him to the Montreal Expos for Tracy Jones. Aldrete’s nephew, Carter, is currently a prospect in the Giants system as well.

The Astros manager Dusty Baker had an 840-715 regular-season record as the Giants manager from 1993-2002. While he may be most remembered by Giants fans for the infamous Game 6 of the 2002 world series, he deserves a lot of credit for managing the organization’s transition to contention in the late-90s.

While it didn’t happen, Baker’s bench coach, Joe Espada, was reportedly the second-place finisher in the Giants managerial search last offseason.

For multi-sport Bay Area fans, Astros hitting coach Gary Pettis is the father of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, Dante Pettis.