With a season far from ideal, A’s in good spot
OAKLAND, Calif. — Baseball players are among the most superstitious people on Earth. Some might strike the image of swaggering, no-nonsense cowboys, when in fact, they have rigid, nit-picking rituals essential to their state of mind.
That’s about to change if the projected baseball season actually takes place, and the World Series champion just might be the team best equipped to deal with chaos.
Give me the A’s and I’ll take my chances.
Resilience is a way of life in Oakland. Players spend half the season in a tired relic of a stadium, usually in front of alarmingly small crowds. Virtually everywhere else they go, the conditions are far more luxurious. They’re constantly hearing about San Francisco’s dominance of the baseball market, how a new ballpark will never be built, how they might even be forced to leave town, how their cheapskate ownership leaves them little chance to win.
All of that bothered the A’s so much last year, they won 97 games and stormed into the playoffs. It didn’t end well, but they looked the part all season, fielding an exciting team full of players either confirmed in their All-Star status or well down the path.
Older players tend to be particularly set in their ways, and they’re going to be one cranky bunch this season. “Nobody’s more a creature of habit than a baseball person,” Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow said this week. “It’s really bizarre how far they’ll go to maintain their ritual. It has everything to do with their rhythm, their confidence, and feng shui and karma. This year is going to be the antithesis of rhythm. How can you find it when there will be so many things to be negative about?
“Like, on the road, you cannot take a cab. You can’t use the restaurant. Once you’re in the hotel, you can’t leave until the next day, so it’s basically room service. Go get ’em! At the ballpark, where a lot of guys are very specific about what they eat, they’re gonna have packaged meals. There are restrictions about when to arrive and leave the park — probably 150 of these small details that may not sound significant, but they screw with a ballplayer’s routine. And that really becomes the story. What team does the best job overcoming the disruptions?”
There are no absolutes when it comes to age — see Hunter Pence or Pablo Sandoval for youthful exuberance among the aging set. But check the 40-man roster released by the A’s on Sunday, as part of the 60-man player pool requested of each team. Starting pitchers Sean Manaea, A.J. Puk, Jesús Luzardo and Frankie Montas are all under 30. So are outfielders Ramón Laureano and Stephen Piscotty, catcher Sean Murphy and all eight of the infielders listed. Shortstop Marcus Semien turns 30 in September, and now they’re down to seven after the trade of Jorge Mateo to San Diego on Tuesday.
Krukow wasn’t kidding about the small details. All of a sudden, it’s a very big deal if you lean on the dugout railing, pick up a ball that someone else has touched, get too close to an umpire, grab a towel, sit too close to somebody in the dugout or stands, share the resin bag with the opposing pitcher, offer a hug or a handshake or strike up an afternoon card game. Even the sanctity of the A’s history-laden clubhouse has been violated; with a rule requiring that lockers be at least 6 feet apart, the Raiders’ old locker room is being expanded to accommodate all of the A’s players.
It just stands to reason that when those annoying little complications arise, the A’s have the kind of what-the-hell attitude that prevails. And once you throw all that aside, focusing strictly on talent and potential, this team has resurrected a beat-theodds mentality in keeping with franchise tradition — unveiled most spectacularly in the early 1970s, when the A’s were even tighter with a buck, couldn’t sell out the Coliseum for playoff games and won three straight World Series titles.
The 2020 A’s don’t yet have their Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter or Rollie Fingers, but they’ll be a treat to watch, for all sorts of reasons.
It’s impossible to have the all-around skills of Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado, not for a player in just his second full season, yet Matt Chapman was exactly that player in 2019. Why don’t more hitters forget the complicated batting stance and step into the box like first baseman Matt Olson, his hands still and outstretched, exactly where he wants them to be when it matters? You almost hope somebody hits a shot up the alley with a baserunner in flight, just to watch Laureano track it down and uncork one of his mind-blowing throws. Just when it seems every pitcher fixates on joining the 100 mph club, there’s Luzardo, a bit of Greg Maddux in his approach, mixing speeds and location with delightfully minimal effort.
Less satisfying to behold, certainly, will be the sad remnants of Oakland as a sports town. The Warriors bailed out, into a world of setbacks beyond their control. The Raiders moved to Las Vegas, soon to realize what an inexcusable blunder they committed. We’re left with the A’s, about to launch a season in front of nobody. If it sounds awkward and uncomfortable, take heart: The baseball team will not flinch.