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What is going on with the Oakland A’s?

By Jeff Weisinger

Sep 9, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Oakland Athletics center fielder Craig Gentry (3) is helped off the field by a trainer after suffering an apparent injury following a collision at first base during the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 9, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Oakland Athletics center fielder Craig Gentry (3) is helped off the field by a trainer after suffering an apparent injury following a collision at first base during the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Oakland Athletics were on pace to reach and win the World Series.

Everyone thought that they made all of the right moves in the offseason and then made even more key moves by the trade deadline, acquiring two of baseball’s top pitching trade prospects in both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel.

Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane also rolled the dice in trading outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to Boston to add Jon Lester to an already solid pitching staff.

The A’s were World Series bound and Oakland was about to prepare for its first World Series parade in 25 years.  Then it all began to crash and burn in front of them.

Prior to Tuesday night’s 11-2 win over the Chicago White Sox, the A’s have been on a collapse worse than anyone could have ever seen coming.

The A’s gave up the American League West to the surging Los Angeles Angels after the A’s dropped nine of their last 12 games, barely staying a game-and-a-half ahead in the AL Wild Card with both Kansas City and Detroit fighting for that second wild card spot.

Oakland’s (81-63 as of Sept. 10) collapse that began in August is highlighted by the team dropping two-of-three against Kansas City to begin the month, followed by a five-game losing streak in the middle of the month and capped off with a four-game sweep by the Angels to end August.

Going into September, the A’s opened the last month of the regular season losing two-of-three to Seattle before a pair of one-run losses to the Astros and White Sox on Sunday and Monday respectively.

So, what’s going on in Oakland?  In short, a whole lot of nothing really.

The A’s are just 15-21 since the trade deadline with their offense averaging just over three runs a game.

Sep 9, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Oakland Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson hits a two-run double against the Chicago White Sox during the fifth inning at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 9, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Oakland Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson hits a two-run double against the Chicago White Sox during the fifth inning at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports /

On Tuesday night, the bats woke up as Josh Donaldson had five hits with four RBIs.

“Maybe some of us were trying too much,” he said after the game.  He had just one RBI in his previous 10 games, adding another note in the A’s hitting struggles.

As Oakland lost five of their last seven games, all by a run, the A’s received quality starts from their rotation from four of those starts.

While Lester has been a good pickup for Oakland (even though he won his first game in his last four starts Tuesday night mainly due to a lack of run support than pitching), Jeff Samardzija hasn’t.

Going into Wednesday’s start, Samardzija is 4-5 since joining Oakland with a 3.70 ERA.  During the collapse, he’s looked nothing like the guy Oakland or anybody thought he was in Chicago this year (that is a sub-3.00 ERA pitcher), rather instead has looked like who he’s always been (an over-3.00 ERA pitcher).  Since becoming a starting pitcher in 2012, he has also yet to finish the season with a winning record and has finished both full seasons with an ERA over 3.80.

Maybe trading Addison Russell for him and Hammel could also be a factor in this collapse.  The A’s played the month of August without shortstop Jed Lowrie, who suffered a hand injury on Aug. 4 against the Rays, hitting the disabled list 10 days after.  The A’s were forced to have Eric Sogard and Andy Parrino fill in and neither were able to get the job done as well as Lowrie.

But the overall reason that probably contributed to the A’s collapse: a string of bad luck leading to a losing trend at the worst possible time while everyone else in the division has gotten hot.

Maybe it’s something that everyone should have seen coming.  Teams go through losing trends throughout the season, but usually earlier and they usually have time to fix it in baseball’s marathon of a regular season.  Until August, the A’s were one of the more consistent teams in the Majors, losing no more than three or four in a row.  August was their first losing month of the season and this downfall could see them taking the longer route to a World Series, having to win the AL Wild Card to begin their road to the Fall Classic.

Sometimes a losing stretch is just a losing stretch, filled with everything going dramatically wrong at once.  For the A’s, it’s everything going wrong at the worst possible time.

But if it’s anything we’ve learned from Oakland the last two years, don’t count them out just yet.

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