Oakland Athletics
68-94, 5th in AL West
Oakland had one of the worst endings imaginable in 2014 with a massive collapse in the second half and heartbreaking loss in the AL Wild Card Game. This year did nothing to help ease that pain.
The A’s appeared they could contend in the AL West entering the season. Instead, Oakland got off to a miserable start and never recovered, finishing with the worst record in the AL.
Oakland’s quick downfall began with the decision to trade Josh Donaldson to the Blue Jays over the offseason. The A’s got some decent pieces in return, but certainly not enough value as Donaldson transformed from a very good player to likely MVP and is still under team control for another two years.
Plenty went wrong with the roster the A’s assembled, with the bullpen being the biggest culprit. Sean Doolittle missed a large chunk of the year with injury, and just about everyone else regressed heavily. The defense didn’t help either, as Oakland lead the Majors with 126 errors.
There were some positives, as rookies Mark Canha and Chris Bassitt both flashed some ability. Still, it’s going to take a long time to get over what was a very disappointing season.
Failure.Billy Beane will surely be frustrated by a miserable year fueled by both bad luck and offseason decisions that backfired.
Next: Philadelphia Phillies