The Oaklnd A's have seen better days.
As you surely know, they have the worst record in the major leagues. At their current pace, the A's would finish 40-122, and that is even worse than the 1962 Mets (40-120). Only one team in all human history has lost more baseball games than those first year Mets - and of course it's the legendary 1899 Cleveland Spiders. The A's are extremely unlikely to be that bad, although like those Spiders they have made it a point to rid their team of every competent or semi-competent baseball player anywhere in their midst. (The 1962 Mets were bad because they had built a roster full of guys who used to be pretty good, but were no longer even adequate anymore.)
The 2023 A's score fewer runs than any team in the majors, just 3.55 per game. And they allow many more runs than any team in the majors, 6.25 per game, despite playing half their games in what is still one of the best pitcher's parks in the game. This is an awful, awful team.
But it's baseball, and weird things happen sometimes. The A's didn't win a series of games until we got into May, when they managed to take two of three from Kansas City, another bottom-feeder. They didn't win another series until the end of May, when the mighty Atlanta Braves rolled into town, only to drop two of three to the hapless Oaklanders.
And then, two weeks ago, in the midst of a long road trip, with their season record standing at an incomprehensible 12-50, having lost five straight - the A's beat Pittsburgh. And then they beat them again the next day. It was their third - count 'em, three - series win of the season. In fact, it was just the third time all season that the A's had won consecutive games. But from there they went into Milwaukee to play the NL Central leading Brewers- and by gosh the A's actually swept all three from Milwaukee, and the Brewers were no longer in first place.
So the A's came home to Oakland, where the mighty Tampa Bay Rays were making a visit - and the A's beat them in the opener, and beat them again the next day. I remind you - the A's had been able to win consecutive games exactly three times over the first two months. But somehow they had now won seven in a row, five of them against first place teams.
They haven't beaten anyone since, and the current losing streak stands at eight.
But you see the danger?
It's baseball.
Weird stuff can happen.
Matchups
Fri 23 June - Kaprielian (2-6, 6.38) vs Bassitt (7-5, 4.16)
Sat 24 June - Harris (2-1, 4.45) vs Berrios (7-5, 3.64)
Sun 25 June - Medina (1-6, 7.01) vs Kikuchi (6-2, 3.97)
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20230622211627526