The weekend series between the Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim certainly lived up to the hype. The A’s took the first two games of the series – both of which were very tense for all nine innings – while the Angels coasted to a lopsided victory in the third game.

As these teams fight for a division crown over the last five weeks of the season there will be plenty more head-to-head matchups, but after watching the weekend series, here are some quick takeaways:

Athletics: 76-53, 1 Game Back In AL West, 5 Game Lead In Wild Card

Good:

The Athletics limped into the weekend series having lost eight of 10 and were fresh off watching their four-game division lead turn into a two-game deficit.

While taking two of three from the first place Angels, the A’s showed they are not going to roll over in this division race and in the first two games of the series they resembled the team that had the best record in baseball for the bulk of the year – not the team that has struggled in August.

It’s no secret what the A’s are capable of this season, but a rough patch had some people questioning the team’s future. Oakland used the weekend showdown against the Angels to answer some of those questions and remind everyone that they’re a playoff-caliber team.

Bad:

Over the course of a 162 game season, blowout losses – like the A’s 9-4 loss to the Angels on Sunday night – are going to happen. However, with the momentum of two straight wins against a division rival, a blowout loss can take the wind out of the sails a bit.

But, perhaps more importantly than one August loss to the Angels is the health of some of the A’s key players.

Prior to Sunday’s contest, the A’s put closer Sean Doolittle on the Disabled List with a right intercostal (the muscles between the ribs) strain.

Third baseman Josh Donaldson also had an MRI on Sunday, but manager Bob Melvin said the MRI revealed no structural damage of Donaldson’s left knee.

Melvin did say Donaldson’s knee just had a little “instability” but added that he expected the third baseman to be in the lineup Monday against the Astros.

Angels: 77-52, 1 Game Lead In AL West

Good:

After dropping the first two games of the series, the Angels offense came to life Sunday. The Angels scored eight runs in the first four innings and finished the game with nine runs on 13 hits.

While it’s always nice to see the entire offense break out in such a way, the Angels have to be pleased with the way some of their stars are swinging the bats.

Kole Calhoun, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Erick Aybar all had multi-hit games Sunday.

When Trout, Pujols and Hamilton are all hitting, the Angels offense is extremely dangerous and it looks like that may be on the verge of happening.

Hamilton singled in his first at-bat and then homered in his second at-bat while Trout singled in his second at-bat and hit a 417 blast to center field in his third at-bat.

In the same way it was good for the Angels to see their offense break out, it was also good for Mike Scioscia to not see a couple of his relievers on the mound.

Kevin Jepsen, Joe Smith and Houston Street did not have to pitch in Sunday’s finale which was vital for the Angels as they had all pitched extensively on the road trip.

Jepsen pitched in five of the 10 games on the trip, Smith pitched in six and Street pitched in five. Street did start to warm up in the ninth, but never came in the game.

Bad:

The Angels leave Oakland with a one game lead in the division, but are just 4-8 against the Athletics this season. The Angels finish the season with 43 games in 45 days and seven of those games will be against the A’s.

The Angels and A’s will face off four times next week in Anaheim and then in late September the teams will play three in Oakland – where the Angels are just 1-5 this season.

Sometimes teams just don’t match-up well against other teams, but if the Angels want to hold on to the division lead, they are going to need to find a way to beat the A’s head-to-head.

Mariners:

The AL West race has been centered on the Angels and the Athletics, but by no means is this only a two-team race.

Seattle is arguably playing the best baseball of any team in the division right now and with a very strong pitching staff, the Mariners are more than capable of catching either the A’s or the Angels.

The Mariners have a 2.28 ERA – the best in baseball – since the All-Star break, have won seven of their last 10 games and still have six games left against the A’s and seven left against the Angels.

As ESPN’s Buster Olney noted on Twitter, the Mariners were 11 1/2 games back of the A’s on July 27th. On August 25th, they’ll wake up with a one-game lead in the second Wild Card spot and also find themselves just five games behind the Athletics and six games behind the Angels.