I am not sure what it is with the Athletics. Surely, the team has had a couple of storied championship runs since migrating from Kansas City to Oakland almost 50 years ago.
The three-time champ 1972-74 Athletics, with Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Vida Blue et al, have to rank among the greatest teams ever (name as many teams not the Yankees who won three World Series titles in a row and you will get my point).
Then, the 1988-90 A’s found their way into three straight fall classics, fueled by Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dave Stewart, and Dennis Eckersley. And 18 years ago, the team peppered with Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, and “The Big Three” — that is Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder — surprised us with a 20-game win streak that lead to an American League West title, but, alas, no World Series.
In recent decades, Billy Beane‘s experiments have produced some interesting combinations of players and trades, but those shots at the postseason have been fleeting.
However, perhaps my favorite Oakland team was the scrappy unit Billy created around Josh Donaldson, Josh Reddick, and Brandon McCarthy, which got hot in July and bested the Rangers in a wild game the last day of the season to earn a playoff berth.
I think the reason I liked that last iteration best of all is that they were so unexpected, for out of nowhere they seemed to be playing over their heads. However, when a team starts to kick it for the entire second half, as the Oaklanders did in 2012, that suggests a team that is a lot more than lucky. Add in the fact that the team played competitive ball for the next five years, and those A’s were certainly not a fluke.
In fact, back then, when I was still a part of Mastersball, I wrote about the surprising team.
So, back as this season began, I noted that the Athletics were pretty good the last two months of 2017, going 28-28 from August on though still finishing 12 games under .500 at 75-87.
I do remember thinking optimistically about the Athletics going into this season, noting among Khris Davis, Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, and Chad Pinder the team had some serious power potential. In fact, the team had a very good set of position players, wonderfully augmented by the addition of backstop Jonathan Lucroy just prior to the beginning of the season.
My big question mark relative to the Athletics success rested within the pitching staff, or lack thereof. For, behind Sean Manaea, and as I saw it Daniel Mengden, the team had very little. Top prospect A.J. Puk and last year’s interesting arm Jharel Cotton were both gone for the year before a first pitch, and I really saw a cobbled together rotation that simply would not carry the team too far.
However, I did say and write that I felt, come the second half, the team had enough hitters to gel by the break and that three good starters, plus that power, should point to a strong second-half and ideally contending team in 2019.
Wrong again, for the Athletics, with a rotation of unlikely suspects — Edwin Jackson, Brett Anderson, and Trevor Cahill — have been delivering on the mound for the requisite six frames before giving way to a very strong pen.
So, the addition of Lucroy may certainly have solidified the Oakland starting eight, but I have to think the presence of the veteran backstop, framing and calling pitches brilliantly while keeping his hurlers in the game and adding a couple of hits here and there, is the essence of the team’s success.
For, the team seems to know that if its pitchers can keep the Athletics within three runs before the last out is recorded, all bets are off and Oakland can play with the best of them. And likely nothing convinced the team of this more than the pair of come-from-behind wins that A’s grabbed at the hands of the Rangers, coming back from a 10-2 deficit in the eighth in one game to win 13-10, and then returning next night for a Davis game-winner in the ninth.
Since that sweep of Texas, Oakland is 13-4, has passed the Mariners for the second Wild Card slot, and rests just five games behind the mighty champion Astros in what has proven to be as surprising a year as 2012. And, it is indeed a lot of fun to watch.
Do I think Oakland can run the table? The truth is, no, they are still a young team, needing some pennant race experience along with a true ace in order to be a championship contender. But, my friends, the team is dangerously close and with a little massaging will be more than dangerous next year and could well be tough for another handful of seasons.
Way to go Billy, and if the MVP goes to the guy who makes his team win, Lucroy is the man!
