A’s must ‘step on the gas’ to end run of early ousters
The pandemic postseason is upon us, and the A’s open up their bestofthree wildcard series against the White Sox on Tuesday at the Coliseum trying to get past the first round for the first time since 2006.
Oakland’s strengths and weaknesses are more than apparent, even after just 60 games. The team’s pitching is superb and should give the A’s a fighting chance against anyone. The once excellent defense has shown some cracks, to be expected after Platinum Glove third baseman Matt Chapman had yearending hip surgery.
And then there’s the lineup. There’s no sugarcoating it: Oakland’s offense is a major concern and could be the biggest obstacle when it comes to the team’s attempt to change its postseason fortunes. The A’s have won just one of their past 13 playoff series.
Some of Oakland’s hitting woes might have to do with Chapman’s absence, but Jake Lamb, signed as a free agent this month, has contributed a number of key hits. A brutal month of September, which concluded with 26 games in 24 days after a fiveday shutdown because of a positive coronavirus test, didn’t help Oakland at the plate; Robbie Grossman noted that it’s been a grind, mentally and physically. The team picked up the pace in Sunday’s 62 seasonfinale victory over Seattle, and a light workout Monday might go some way toward helping getting the team back on track, but some major figures never got going all season.
Designated hitter Khris Davis started slow after a rough 2019 and is now in a platoon. First baseman Matt Olson showed his usual power but finished the season with a .195 average and 77 strikeouts. Shortstop Marcus Semien, who finished third in the MVP race last year, missed time with a rib cage injury, and he never got on a roll, either.
The rest of the lineup has been up and down, with some of the 2020 stalwarts — Grossman, Mark Canha, and to some extent Ramón Laureano — showing promising signs the past week after September funks. New additions Lamb and second baseman Tommy La Stella have contributed on a regular basis since joining the team. Every little bit will be needed, because as good as Oakland’s pitching is, the team still needs to score — something that tripped up the A’s each of the past two postseasons. They scored two runs in a wildcard loss to the Yankees two years ago, just one last season in falling to the Rays at the Coliseum.
“The offense better step on the gas,” one bigleague scout said. “They are not hitting well at all. Chapman’s impact is going to be large . ... The way they are playing, it’s going to be difficult for them; in baseball, you cannot turn on the switch. It’s not an easy road ahead.”
Pitching and defense are normally considered the best combination for a deep postseason run, and the A’s have one of the best rotations in the league, with Game 2 starter Chris Bassitt turning in particularly impressive work ( Jesús Luzardo gets the ball in Game 1), and the best bullpen in baseball, headed by closer Liam Hendriks, who should get postseason award consideration.
“We’ve got some great pitchers starting from our starters all the way down to our bullpen guys,” catcher Jonah Heim said. “I’m confident with whoever goes on the bump out there, and
I’d take our pitchers over everybody, honestly.”
Another plus for Oakland: postseason experience. Nearly everyone on the roster has some, even the new guys. Lamb was 6for13 and scored four runs in two series with Arizona three years ago; La Stella’s playoff time has come almost entirely off the bench — he went 0for13 with one start in 12 games with the Cubs — but he was part of a World Series winner.
“There’s that pressure, and you’ve got to love that pressure,” Lamb said. “The big situations come up — I live for those situations, I absolutely love them. But I meant that’s fun, it’s fun. Growing up as a kid, World Series, Game 7, two outs, bases loaded, you live for these things.”
Oakland also has the homefield advantage in the first round, which isn’t nothing, even without fans. The A’s are 2210 at the Coliseum, the secondbest home winning percentage in Oakland history, and having the last atbat has been kind to them: Oakland had a majorleague high six walkoff wins and also pocketed 10 victories in the team’s final atbat.
Each of the A’s past three postseason trips — in 2014, 2018 and 2019 — ended in onegame wildcard losses, so the bestofthree series might be of help, Hendriks said.
“I think going in there knowing that it’s not a doordie in the first game, I think that can take a little pressure off a lot of guys,” Hendriks said. “Going out there knowing that each pitch is pivotal and everything like that in a onegame playoff, it changes the dynamic a little bit. So having that space there a little bit, it’s able to kind of relax some guys. And when we’re relaxed, we’re doing well. If we start putting too much pressure on ourselves, that’s when things go a little awry.
“It’s just going out there and making sure that we need to take care of business on the first day. We do that, we’ll be fine. I don’t think there’s too many teams that can stack up against us if we’re playing our baseball.”