Oakland Athletics Reliever John Axford Predicts the Oscars, Again
Will John Axford correctly predict the 2016 Oscar winners?
Full disclosure: The post you’re about to read has nothing to do with Oakland Athletics baseball.
The A’s possess a player with a very valuable skill – if you’re into betting on the Oscars. Reliever John Axford was a perfect 18-for-18 in 2014, when he predicted the winners of the major Oscar categories – outshining plenty of entertainment “experts”. At the time, the former closer was in Spring Training with the Cleveland Indians.
“I hope he’s as good at saves,” Tribe manager Terry Francona said at the time, in an interview with MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.
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Of course, even perfection isn’t good enough for some people. There was immediately a (hopefully tongue-in-cheek) backlash over the fact that Axford had selected winners in just the 18 major categories, as opposed to all 24. So last year, he went for broke and made a prediction for each award. He fell short, with just 17 correct picks, but that’s not bad. Those who try to play along at home know that determining which films the Academy will reward is much harder than it looks.
The A’s reliever has a Bachelor of Arts degree in film and television from Notre Dame, which gives him a slight advantage over the average viewer, but can he do it again?
The full list of Axford’s picks can be found in his Players’ Tribune article, but a few of the major categories include:
Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight
Best Actress: Brie Larson (Room)
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Best Picture: The Revenant
Of course, the Athletics are probably more interested in what he can do on the field, given that he signed a two-year, $10 million contract this winter. The right-hander posted a 4.20 ERA with the Colorado Rockies, primarily because his home ballpark was Coors Field, but he had a solid season overall.
For tonight, however, all eyes will be on Axford’s film knowledge. Will his success continue?
The 88th Academy Awards ceremony begins at 5:30 pm PST on ABC. Follow @JohnAxford to play along, as he finds out whether his picks are correct.
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In a question that rarely appears on Swingin’ A’s… what do you think? Will Axford go 24-for-24, or did his 2016 Oscars picks miss the mark?