Oakland Athletics are on par with reigning champion Houston Astros in the American League West. And that alone should be one of the biggest surprises of the season. SPOX illuminates the situation in the Bay Area.
But if you look at the time since the All-Star-Break in mid-June, this fact is no longer quite as surprising. Since 16 June, the A’s have been 41-14, which is the best baseball record in this period.
With the help of this hot series, the team from Oakland has caught up with the Astros by a staggering twelve games. Moreover, their 75-50 record is the third best in the majors and their best after 125 games since 1992.
But how can this performance increase be explained this season after the manageable previous year (75-87)?
Since these are the Oakland A’s and Billy Beane still leads the fate behind the scenes, it makes sense to bring “Moneyball” into play. However, the approach is by no means as innovative today as it was at the turn of the millennium. Nowadays, every team relies in part extremely on analytics, which is why this former advantage has long been a thing of the past.
Rather, in Oakland they do exactly what is being done elsewhere: Good scouting, which led to a strong farming system on the basis of which the highly competitive team was developed this season.
Last year the Corner-Infielders – and cornerstones of the team – Matt Chapman and Matt Olson finally made the jump into the MLB. Chapman also developed into the face of the franchise and is correspondingly strong.
In addition, Outfielder and Designated Hitter Khris Davis somehow managed to become a star despite the lack of media attention. As in the past two years, he is highly likely to hit more than 40 home runs again in 2018, despite most of his games at the gigantic Coliseum in Oakland. He is the only player who will have achieved this three times in a row at the end of this season.
Furthermore, the veterans in the team sometimes produce better than before and at a consistently high level. Second Baseman Jed Lowrie, for example, has already set a new personal record with his 19 home runs, while Stephen Piscotty also blossoms again in St. Louis after a mixed last year.
Piscotty, on the other hand, is one of the targeted reinforcements Beane and his front office have made during the off-season, but especially during this season.
Oakland actually showed a good hand in strengthening the team. Piscotty came for comparatively little value from the Cardinals and is seeded in the right field. Rookie-Left Fielder Nick Martni, on the other hand, can confidently be called a steal.
After six years in the Cardinal farm system, he became a free agent in the winter and came to Oakland under a minor league contract. Meanwhile he starts mostly against right-handers and comes on a strong 143 OPS+. Another equally impressive man is undoubtedly Ramon Laureano, who came from Houston via Trade in November and is considered the centre fielder of the future.
Another newcomer is catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who is not very offensive, but has become the hoped-for enrichment in the leadership and development of the pitching staff.
However, the pitching staff in particular has undergone a general overhaul over the past 15 months. The first step was the departure of starter Sonny Gray, who was sent to New York for numerous talents. Since then, a whole series of highly talented arms have been added.
Five relievers alone have come by trade since November 2017, including Shawn Kelley, who fell from grace in Washington, and the Closer caliber right-handers Jeurys Familia and Fernando Rodney since this July. Oakland has given up surprisingly little.
As far as the starting rotation is concerned, a major upgrade has been made here as well. With the exception of Ace Sean Manaea, who pitched a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in April, none of the current starters were in the Bay Area last year. Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson joined as free agents in March. In June Edwin Jackson was taken off the road and in August there was the trade for Mike Fiers, who has been rocking ever since (280 OPS+).
All the more remarkable is the current development against the background that Beane had only last July announced that the A’s were in their umpteenth rebuild. At that time with the addition that this time the “End Game” was a successful team with increased payroll – if a new stadium were actually built. But the A’s are still a long way from that.
And so nobody knows how long the franchise will be able – and willing – to keep this promising current team together. But at least for the rest of this season, the A’s in their current condition are a clear contender in the fiercely contested American League (West).
The remarkable thing is that the A’s have their fate 37 games in their own hands before the end of the season. In the battle for AL West, they will face the Astros three more times and the Seattle Mariners seven times, both of whom are direct rivals to the division title. In addition, the fight for the wild card at home against the Yankees three times in early September, otherwise there are only matches against teams at or below .500.
Thus, reaching the playoffs no longer seems to be a utopia. Whether via division victory or Wilcard, October baseball is within Oakland’s reach. It would be the first postseason appearance for the A’s since 2014, when they lost to the Kansas City Royals in the wildcard game.
By the way, the A’s achieve this overall impressive performance with a payroll of just over 79 million dollars – 28th place in the MLB. Only the Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox are currently spending less on their team.
The fact that it is enough for the postseason makes this organization – once again – the most efficient in Major League baseball. Moneyball may have lost its uniqueness today, but the basic idea seems to be implemented better in Oakland than elsewhere.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.