A’s will face tough stretch

TOKYO – Every schedule has its challenges over the course of 162 games, but this is extraordinary.

After the A’s open the season in Japan and then play the Giants in the three-game Bay Bridge Series, they will embark on a stretch of 18 consecutive game days. The first eight are at the Oakland Coliseum against the Angels and Boston Red Sox. Then they go on the road for 10 at Houston, Baltimore and Texas.

Not only is there an obvious fatigue factor in play here, but playing for 18 straight days also throws a wrench into how the A’s can go about assembling their 25-man roster. Normally teams can stash a starting pitcher, for the A’s perhaps young phenom Jesús Luzardo, in favor of another player they would like to have on the roster. The A’s are going to need all of their starting pitchers, whichever five they end up being.

“That 18 straight is something that came up in every meeting this spring to remind ourselves that we need to make decisions that allow us to have the depth to get through April,” A’s general manager David Forst said. “If you can weather that storm on the field and get through with healthy bodies, all those things are critical as we get through the first three weeks.”

The A’s had a stretch of 20 straight days with a game last year and actually handled it well. They went 11-9, but that stretch came much later in the season from Aug. 17 – Nov. 5.