Cut4 postseason preview: The Bernie, walk-off pies, and everything else you need to know about the Oakland Athletics

Playoffs? You kiddin' me? Uh, no, actually we're not. In case you've been holed up watching Gangnam Style videos for the last few months, here's what you need to know about the season that was and the postseason to come –- Oakland A's edition.

Also: Braves, Cardinals, Giants, Nationals, Orioles, Rangers, Reds, Tigers, Yankees

The Oakland Athletics: they're different. There's a lot about this MLB franchise -- green hats, white shoes, sharing a stadium with an NFL team -- that you can't say about any other. And while this might apply, with varying degrees, to many clubs, the A's and their fans seem to have a heck of a lot of fun. They're young, they're hungry and they're in the postseason, even though no one thought they would be.

- The Bernie. It began as a dance move invented by rapper ISA for the song "Movin' Like Bernie," improbably based on the dead title character's dance in Weekend at Bernie's II. Then Brandon Inge made it his walk-up song, the team started doing the dance on-field after good plays, the real Bernie (actor Terry Kiser) visited Oakland Coliseum and a new song called "Bernie Lean," which came with an A's-centric video, was produced. And that's how we got to the point where the Athletics' official Twitter account is using the hashtag #OctoBernie.

- The A's made a habit of winning games in walk-off fashion, and developed a highly ritualized practice of pieing each other in the face after such victories. Variations on the theme included the pieer being Spider-Man, fans self-pieing at home and members of Oakland's sales office congratulating each other with whipped cream pans after closing a deal.

- Offseason acquisition Josh Reddick seemed to put his stamp on Coliseum culture from the get-go. He was a passionate Bernie practitioner, donned the Spider-Man pieing suit and evoked memories of another long-haired No. 16.

- Oakland's most raucous cheering section -- the right-field bleachers "FANily," -- received gifts of food from their own, and their adversaries. Torii Hunter's delivery was meant to satisfy a two-year-old pledge that he thought would grant him heckling immunity, but the FANily proved deftly, and hilariously, adept at reneging on that pact.

- The A's are young. Ridiculously young. Five out of five starters in the rotation were rookies down the stretch. It's hard to get too creative with a theme when you have to provide costumes for almost the entire team during the annual rookie hazing ritual.

- One of Oakland's select few non-rookie pitchers was Grant Balfour, who became a closer for the first time at age 34, and send the crowd into a thrash metal rage when the unmistakable sounds of Metallica heralded his entrance into a game. He was also one of the Australian Athletics, who set a Major League record for Aussies on one team in a season when their ranks swelled to three -- and then broke their own record when they added Melbournian Travis Blackley.

- Some would say that a team known as the Athletics should select a more athletic animal than the elephant as its mascot. But if you think that, then you don't know Stomper. The sprightly pachyderm has been known to breakdance, but kept to more traditional mascot dancing with his dad on Father's Day at the Coliseum. He also showed that his midi-chlorean count is off the charts on Star Wars night.

- Brandon McCarthy had a huge scare when a line drive ricocheted off his head, necessitating life-saving surgery to fix a skull fracture and an epidural hemorrhage. But the procedure went perfectly, he's recovering quickly and was cracking jokes about it almost immediately. Later, his wife and teammates found some twisted humor in the ordeal's aftermath.

- Finally, the Athletics were the only MLB franchise to have a movie about them be nominated for Best Picture at this year's Oscars. Jonah Hill, who played a fictional A's assistant GM in Moneyball, has made it clear he expects a ring if Oakland goes all the way.

POSTSEASON PREDICTIONS

- Like Moneyball chronicled their 2002 season, Oakland's 2012 postseason exploits are dramatized into a sequel called Moneyball 2: Electric Beanealoo.

- When the A's meet the O's in the ALCS, opposing fans compete in the stands to yell their teams' one-letter nicknames louder and louder, leading to something that sounds like this or possibly this.

- The Athletics reach Game 7 of the ALCS, scheduled for October 21. Their stadiummates, the Raiders, are also scheduled to play the Jaguars at home on that same day. Major League Baseball and the NFL come to the only sensible agreement: play the games simultaneously, resulting in a chaotic, Calvinball-like spectacle.

- Trying to capture some of the "Movin' Like Bernie" magic, on NL team's fans mine through other '80s comedies before debuting "Movin' Like Anthony Michael Hall in Sixteen Candles."

-- Dan Wohl / MLB.com