Strange days, strange ways, but A’s still won West

Highscoring ALDS games indeed did not suit the A’s, who were 336 in the regular season when allowing four runs or fewer and 318 when allowing five or more. The A’s won the season series 73 over Houston, with every win in Oakland. Under MLB’s pandemic playoff format, though, the A’s hosted only the first round at the Coliseum, where their pitching is stingier. The ALDS moved to a neutral site, Dodger Stadium, which proved to be a hitters’ launching pad.

“It wasn’t ideal,” Melvin said. “Our focus this year was to win the division so we didn’t have to play a wildcard and we could wait and sit at home and have a team come play us — that got tossed out pretty early. … But all the teams that won their division had to deal with that, too.”

Oakland’s exit came at the hands of a Houston team exposed in the offseason for a signstealing scandal. A normal year might have required the Astros to weather angry crowds in Oakland and elsewhere. But stands sat empty, one element of a 2020 season played under strict health protocols on and off the field.

“We dealt with the strangeness of this literally from the first night when Matt ( Olson) hits a walkoff grand slam on Opening Night and there’s nobody there to celebrate it,” Forst said. “It was weird right from the start. And I think as the season went along, our guys were really good at sort of going along with what this bizarre season had for them.”

Olson, the slugging first baseman, was a good example of an overall puzzling offensive season for the A’s. Olson finished in the top 10 among qualified AL hitters in homers ( 14), RBIs ( 42) and walks ( 34). He also had the thirdlowest batting average (. 195) and fourthmost strikeouts ( 77).

As a team, Oakland’s .225 average was second lowest in the AL and its .718 onbaseplusslugging rate was 10th. Regulars including Olson, Marcus Semien (. 223), Ramón Laureano (. 213), Mark Canha (. 246) and Matt Chapman (. 232 before a seasonending hip injury) endured dropoffs in average.

“It was a little perplexing to us because you’re talking about a lot of guys who are real good hitters and have a proven track record,” Beane said. In a 162game season, “you can play a long game a little bit. There’s not a sense of panic. … But when you have a 60game schedule and all of a sudden you get off to a bad start, it’s not so easy to recover.

“The one thing we’re not worried about is the guys as a whole. There’s a lot of guys who in a 60game season were far below what they normally would produce. And again, I think this was such a different year that me and Bob have theorized that might have an impact.”

Beane pointed to the Cubs as another team on which hitters with track records had down years.

Melvin said that among A’s hitters, “I don’t know that anybody can say they had a really good year offensively, yet we ended up where we were because as a team, we found a way and had a couple different guys on a particular night show up to produce a win.”

Pitching helped Oakland do so, especially a bullpen that led the majors with a 2.72 ERA. The A’s rotation, with the possible exception of Chris Bassitt, was less consistent. A’s starters compiled a 4.49 ERA ( 16th in MLB) and .260 opponents’ average ( 22nd) and averaged 5.12 innings a start. The group struggled in the ALDS, with Bassitt, Sean Manaea, Jesús Luzardo and Frankie Montas combining for an 8.82 ERA in 161⁄ innings.

Melvin said it was “a difficult year to find your rhythm and some consistency” for pitchers, and he still views Luzardo and Montas as “topoftherotation guys.” After MLB’s monthslong shutdown in the spring, pitchers in particular faced a quick rampup in summer training camps to the season. The A’s were among teams that lightened starters’ workloads in the early going.

“There’s so many variables that the pitchers, in particular, dealt with in this kind of season that you wouldn’t see in a normal one, so probably hard to really change your evaluation,” Forst said. “I thought each guy in his own way kind of battled through it and found his stride at some point.”

The A’s played 26 games in 24 days to end the regular season — partly the result of a positive coronavirus test in late August — and lost Chapman, their Platinum Glove third baseman, to a hip injury in early September. They finished 3624 and were the No. 2 seed in the AL playoffs, but their postseason run again ended earlier than hoped.

“Anytime you’re in the playoffs and get knocked out, the next day you’re feeling pretty empty about it,” Beane said. “I’m very proud of what we accomplished under very trying circumstances.”

Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@ sfchronicle. com Twitter: @ matthewkawahara

Harry How / Getty Images The A’s watch at Dodger Stadium as the Astros finish battering Oakland pitchers in the ALDS. A’s starters were stingier at home, but the pandemic led to postseason games at neutral sites.