Once again, the Oakland Athletics are the feel-good team in baseball right now. They're repeated their 2018 strategy of going worst to first, but with a stronger core from the getgo. That way, instead of making huge structural changes late in the season, they can make smaller changes in order to perfect a Wild-Card-ready roster.
And that's basically what we're looking at. The only midseason additions were pitchers, like Tanner Roark, Jake Diekman and Homer Bailey. All have been pretty successful, but unlike last year it's not a complete and total rehaul of the bullpen, or an addition of a prime lead starter like Mike Fiers. We're getting to the 'modest reinforcements' era of Oakland's latest moneyball era, and I like that.
I also like how homegrown this core has become. It's just guys like Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Mark Canha, Josh Phegley and Chad Pinder, as well as guys who came over as unknowns and have made careers here, like Khris Davis, Marcus Semien and Robbie Grossman. I love how even without Sean Manaea, the rotation has been strong, and even without Blake Treinen's better numbers, Liam Hendriks has taken over as closer.
So many little things are making me very excited about this A's team, and yet...you look at the other 2 teams in the Wild Card race, and you've got the Indians and the Rays. Both would be extremely tough to beat in a Wild Card game, and they're not even the three immovable division leaders. So as fun as the A's are, like last year, we have to ask ourselves how legitimate these guys could be in a playoff scenario. And while they are open to late-inning extravaganzas, I have no idea how they'll compare against better pitching matchups.
Still...they're fun now, and that's all that matters.
Coming Tonight: They're out of the race entirely, so...they can just do whatever they want. And 'winning games' occasionally counts as whatever they want.
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