The Scrappy Athletics Have More Wins Than Any Team In The Big, Bad AL East And Find Themselves Just A Game Out Of First Place
Justine Willard/Athletics. Getty Images.The cardiac A's did it again last night, another walk-off for them as they notched their 20th win of the season in just their 36th game. For reference, last year they won their 20th game in game #50 and in 2023 it took them until game # 78 which was June 23rd. Take a look at the standings out there, if we told you that the A's would have reached 20 wins before EVERY TEAM IN THE AL EAST and be tied for the most wins in their division you'd have had me drug tested. Yup, the big, bad AL East that we all thought would be a gauntlet, turns out none of the teams aren't very good?
The Yankees can't get anything going for any extended period of time, Red Sox can't stop flirting with .500, the Orioles are a bad baseball team, the Rays are the Rays and the Jays are underperforming yet again. Meanwhile the A's have been consistently good throughout the young season. 20-16 including a 7-3 run in their last 10, all with a run differential of -21, but don't get it twisted, these aren't the A's of a few years ago. They've quietly put together a very solid squad and are playing some good baseball.
You've heard of some of the guys who have had solid seasons so far, Brent Rooker, Luis Severino, JJ Bleday, Miguel Andujar but it really is the younger core of guys who have come up and helped catapult this team into their competitive window. Shea Langeilers behind the dish, Tyler Soderstrom was the hottest power hitter for a week and a half and has 9 bombs, Jacob Wilson is an incredibly fun and exciting player despite being allergic to walking (5 walks in 141 PA), Lawrence Butler is still a super fun player to watch as well, Nick Kurtz will eventually get it going after a slow start following his debut, but these guys are young, scrappy, and fun as hell. They play with their hair on fire and don't really give a shit. These kind of teams always come out of nowhere and surprise folks, the guys who are playing with house money and aren't supposed to be here, those are the dangerous teams. This team doesn't even have a real home either! No distractions getting in their way it seems.
Their pitching has been a lottttt better than we all thought too, JP Sears has really taken a step up and given them a nice 1-2 punch with Sevy at the top of the rotation. Their bullpen is littered with studs too, obviously led by Mason Miller but they've got Tyler Ferguson and his 0.51 ERA and Justin Sterner too. Watch them be buyers too, they're 2nd in the division and could really surprise some folks throughout the season. Add some arms! Make a run at this thing! They've got a legit offense, another arm in that rotation behind Sevy and Sears would do wonders. It's super early still but it's great to see them get off to a start like this, the amount of shit that was talked about them coming into this year, the homeless A's don't have time for any of that, they just want to win ballgames.
Every night it seems like they're walking someone off or closing out some game with Miller throwing 113 MPH. It's May 6th and they're a game out of first place, no one saw this coming. Good for Mark Kotsay, a true baseball guy, haven't seen one bad thing said about him. He had an impossible job dealing with the team and stadium stuff the last few years, they stuck by him and they're seeing the flowers bloom. Even though the shitty ownership doesn't deserve to see the good parts, it is cool to see the franchise have a little bit of success. I do feel for the fans of Oakland though, would have been cool to see the coliseum bumping with this team.
Regardless of if they have a true home or not, this team is playing really good baseball and would be in first place in the AL East, that says something. Would be fun to see them keep it up this summer.
