Doolittle (oblique) is likely to be activated from the DL on Friday if he comes out of Thursday's session feeling good, the San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser reports. He threw 20 pitches to hitters standing in the box Wednesday and said it went great, so all signs point to the A's having their closer back this weekend. He was one of the more dominant relievers in baseball prior to the oblique injury, and should be highly valued moving forward.