Derek Norris is not in the lineup for Thursday's AL Wild Card game against the Royals, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Norris is not in the lineup for Thursday's AL wild-card game against the Royals, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Analysis:

The A's will take a calculated risk and start Geovany Soto, who has never caught Jon Lester. Soto finished with the regular season with seven hits in his final 20 at-bats, whereas Norris hit just .245/.314/.324 after the All-Star break and is 0-for-5 in his career against Royals starter James Shields. Further, Soto is 10-for-23 against potential base stealers, while Norris has gunned down just 12-of-72 this season.