It always seems like A’s are team to beat
Oakland’s .570 win percentage since 2012 is 2nd in major leagues
OAKLAND, Calif. — Maybe it’s Moneyball’s omnipresence and general manager Billy Beane’s lore, or maybe it’s the actual standings.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that Oakland is the team that everyone else has to go through in the American League West.
On paper, Seattle looks like the team to beat more than Oakland, one Astros person said ahead of Friday night’s opener of a three-game series against the A’s. Baseball Prospectus’ playoff odds report entering Thursday ranked the Los Angeles Angels as the most likely team in the division to make the playoffs at 57.3 percent, followed by the A’s (39.9), Mariners (38.9), Astros (19.1) and Rangers (9.6).
Numbers don’t lie
But from the beginning of the 2012 season through Wednesday, only one major league team had a better winning percentage than the A’s .570, and that is the Washington Nationals at .573.
While prior years’ teams don’t play this year’s games, how can the past success of the folks putting together the roster be ignored at this early stage of the season?
Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie played with the A’s from 2013-14, winning a division title the first year and earning a wild-card playoff spot last year.
“They always seem to be a competitive team,” Lowrie said. “I just think it’s too early to say if they’re the team to beat. You look at Anaheim’s lineup, the payroll, it’s hard not to say that they’re going to be good. You look at the pitching (the Mariners have), although it hasn’t performed up to what expectations were early in the season, you could think that it would be good with this quality lineup. Texas, as long as they stay healthy, should be a competitive team. It’s just too early to tell who’s going to be competitive.”
The Astros (8-7) enter Friday’s game atop the West, a game up on the A’s.
Dallas Keuchel, who will start for the Astros in the series opener, called it an accurate statement to say Oakland is the team to beat but added a caveat.
“All the teams in the AL West are teams to beat just because every team pretty much has beaten us so far,” Keuchel said. “We have to beat all the rest of the four teams in the division in order to make this next jump into the playoffs.”
Lowrie is not the only former A’s player on the Astros’ roster. Chris Carter was with Oakland from 2010-12, Pat Neshek was with the A’s from 2012-13, and Luke Gregerson was on the team last year.
“When I was there, we
didn’t really look at it like (we were the team to beat). We just had really good team chemistry,” Neshek said. “We jelled. We had fun hanging out together. For the most part, we were a bunch of nobodies, and a lot of guys were either starting up their careers and you could tell they
were going to be superstars or guys that never really got the shot that were coming back. So we were a bunch of misfits, and we just jelled and liked beating people.”
But the 2015 A’s look at lot different. On opening day, two players returned to the team’s starting lineup from 2014, matching the fewest in that franchise’s history from 1977 and 1998.
“Kind of the nature of Oakland is to give a lot of guys chances, and then when they have success, turn them over and get some new guys,” Neshek said. “It’s a formula that’s worked for them.
“For me, it was kind of sad. Not just leaving but seeing that team get broken up. Just being a part of it, just knowing all the guys, you know a lot of ’em went on to make pretty good money, and they’re helping on other teams. But it would’ve been really cool to see that team stay together, too, in my opinion. But they know what they’re doing. That’s how they run it over there.”
Plenty of new faces
The nine players overall returning to the A’s roster on opening day matched the same number as the Astros this year. The Astros had one rookie (Asher Wojciechowski), and the A’s had five.
But change always has been a part of the A’s method. Billy Butler was the 10th opening-day designated hitter Oakland has had in 11 seasons.
“It seems like they have a whole new team every couple of years,” said Astros pitcher Scott Feldman, who has spent more time playing for an AL West team — 10 seasons — than any other player on either team, counting his time with the Rangers. “At the same time, they have a formula that works for them, and they’re always a good team.”
In baseball and elsewhere, certain franchises are said to have “a way” — some operating philosophy or typical conduct that sets them apart, typically in a positive sense.
Asked if he would bring some part of the A’s way to the Astros, Lowrie downplayed the concept. What might define the A’s Way is less players’ operational habits and more what the front office does.
“I feel like that’s a narrative the team kind of writes for itself,” Lowrie said. “The Cardinal Way, the Red Sox Way. I think it’s true — I think there is a way that the A’s go about their business right, but I think that’s an internal thing. And I think if you look at a lot of the guys, I mean, how many guys have they developed from their minor leagues? There’s really not a whole lot of guys who have come through the system there outside of (Sean) Doolittle. … They identify guys who are going to fit.”
So at the end of the day, what if Feldman had to pick one team that can’t be counted out in the division? Would it be the A’s?
“I’d say we can’t be counted out,” he said.