Leading OFF
Who are these guys, and should the other major league teams fear them?
HOUSTON – There are no security guards needed in their hotel lobby, no velvet ropes to keep fans away; not even a hotel clerk to shoo away autograph seekers.
They might be one of baseball’s finest teams and the greatest underdog story in the game. But they remain as anonymous as an industrial supply convention, as they can walk the downtown streets with no one having any idea of their identities.
“We kind of like that,” says Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman, who might be in the MVP discussions if more people were aware of him. “We’re not the Yankees. We’re not the Red Sox. We’re not the Astros.
“We’re the A’s. We play on the West Coast. We aren’t the biggest market. We go to places you think you might get recognized, but you don’t.
“We don’t have a Manny Machado or anything like that. Nobody expected us to do anything. So right now we’re just shocking people, which is kind of fun.”
Why, even their top slugger, Khris Davis, who led the major leagues with 40 homers entering the week — who just tied Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx as the only player in franchise history with three consecutive 40-homer seasons — doesn’t even have a Twitter account.
“Once in a while, we may be an occasional autograph collector come around our hotel,” Davis says, “but that’s about it. We don’t have to worry about the paparazzi or anything like that. We’re not the Yankees. It’s just us.”
The A’s might be anonymous to the casual fan, but no longer can they be ignored, not when they had the fourthbest record in baseball, the finest record (45-20) since June 18, and are scaring the living daylights out of the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
The A’s, who had won 17 of their last 20 series before losing two out of three games to the Astros last week, were 2½ games behind Houston entering the week.
“We know how great they are; I could see it coming,” Astros World Series MVP George Springer said. “They remind me a lot of us in 2015 when we took the turn. I think it’s awesome what they’re doing. They’re going to be a great team for a long time as long as those guys stick together and stay healthy.
“It sure is going to make for an interesting September.”
The odds will tell you the A’s, who opened the season with a major leaguelow $62 million payroll, won’t be able to overcome the Astros and win the AL West, relegating then to a likely wildcard game against the Yankees. They just lost their ace, Sean Manaea, who threw a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox, to a shoulder injury, perhaps for the season. Their hottest pitcher, Brett Anderson, strained his forearm and became the ninth starting pitcher to be placed on the DL in late August. And their rotation lasted just 102⁄3 innings in the three-game series against the Astros.
Yet they have one of the best bullpens in the majors, so deep that they have four potential closers who can shut down the game after the fifth inning. (Veteran reliever Sean Kelley came into a game during the fourth inning last week.) Nobody might have a better defensive, powerhitting corner infield than Chapman and first baseman Matt Olson, who had combined for 17 homers and 42 RBI since the All-Star break while playing Gold Glovecaliber defense. And the greatest defensive center fielder in the game might be Ramon Laureano, who has been in the big leagues for a little over a month.
“I had no idea how talented this team was when I got over here,” said catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who was frozen out in last year’s free agent class before signing in spring training. “There are so many good players here, but the guy who blows me away is Chapman. This kid is doing stuff that I’ve never seen anybody do. I never saw Brooks Robison play, but this guy’s defense is better than (Colorado Rockies five-time Gold Glove winner) Nolan Arenado. The plays he makes are unbelievable. His arm is so good that he throws 98 mph off the mound.
“If this kid was in New York, or really anywhere else, he’d be a global star.”
If the A’s, with only 1,500 full-season ticketholders playing in the dilapidated Oakland Coliseum the Raiders will soon abandon, were anywhere else, they would be household names.
Well, their coming-out party should be in October, when the A’s are in the playoffs, the tarp comes off the upper deck of the Coliseum, and perhaps even the Yankees in town for a sudden-death wild card game.
Even if the Yankees finish with a better record and they play in New York, the A’s should have an opportunity to gain sweet revenge for all of their playoff failures and epic postseason moments (including the Derek Jeter flip play and Jeremy Giambi non-slide) against the Yankees.
“We got nothing to lose; there’s no pressure on us,” says starter Edwin Jackson, who’s playing for his 13th major league team. “We’re the underdogs. We can go in there and take stuff. We can go in there and be bullies. We’re not guarding the flag. We’re trying to take the flag.”
Jackson has a word of warning for whatever visiting team might be in the Coliseum in October.
Be afraid. Very afraid.
“You’re going to feel it,” Jackson says. “There’s going to be some tension, some hostility. Maybe not to the same extent as a Raiders crowd, but you’re going to feel some of that same hostility. It’s there for sure.”