Matt Olson and Matt Chapman have helped lead the A’s back to the top of MLB. After a frustrating start to the season, the A’s are 12-2 in the month of August and are among the best in the league in almost every power rankings on the internet.
Oakland has returned to the class of the sport behind a few rising superstars and a deep pitching staff, who probably looked familiar to all those fans who saw the A’s own the AL-West in turn. e ieu.
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From 2000-03, the A’s had a stranger on the division. With a dominant left of the infield in shortstop and 2002 AL MVP Miguel Tejada and six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez, along with 2002 Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Barry Zito anchoring the rotation, crosses Oakland to four consecutive 90s -plus seasons to win.
The A’s ranked third in MLB over that span in pitching Wins Above replacement, and 10th in production position player. In 2020, with stars like Olson and Chapman in tandem with a tremendous rotation, Oakland ranks third in position player WAR and second in pitching WAR among MLB clubs.
Shortstop Marcus Semien may have been the best of the bunch in 2019, hitting 285 with 33 home games and 92 RBI en route to finishing third in the AL MVP poll. Olson missed a significant portion of the season before the MLB All-Star break with an injury on hand, but his power numbers were one of the best in the league despite playing just 127 games. Chapman’s offense continues to improve, while he has already confirmed himself as probably the league’s best individual defender.
Just like the roster two decades in advance, the A’s are buoyed by several dominant infielders and a pitching staff that continues to produce. No. 1 starter Frankie Montas was named after the AL’s Pitcher of the Week after two electric outings to open the month of August. Top prospect Jesús Luzardo has shown blitzes of the seemingly unlimited potential that many see in the South Pot, and remains a decent bet for the AL’s Rookie of the Year Award.
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Unlike those teams with Chavez and Tejada, however, the A’s have found themselves in second place in the AL West for each of the past two seasons behind the conquered Houston Astros. After a systemic sign-stealing scheme was revealed this offseason, Houston opened the 2020 season by playing .500 baseball and sits in third place in the division. A’s outfielder Ramón Laureano, who began his career in Houston, placed the A’s in the WAR ahead of his fourth-game ban for loading the Astros dugout following an altercation with Houston coach Alex Cintron.
In this shortened 2020 MLB season, one that will include just 60 games in the regular season and an expanded postseason field, it is almost guaranteed that the A’s will find themselves in the playoffs, whether they win the division or not. Maybe this will be the year they can finally do what Chavez, Tejada and the rest of the A stars have come and could not do: bring a World Series back to the city.
