Chemistry has A’s on brink of wild card
OAKLAND >> Outside the Coliseum’s confines — maybe on MLB Network or certain corners of social media — is the place to feel the deserved pressures and drama surrounding an excruciatingly close American League wildcard race. With nine games left, just a few slip ups separate the comforts of home field advantage in the jaws of sudden death and just another October night in front of the television.
Step into the Coliseum’s confines and all that tension slips away at the door. Just like any other day this season, the A’s are playing cards, kicking the soccer ball around, cracking jokes. The mood never changes, but the confidence is high.
Khris Davis declared back in July after a walkoff against the Texas Rangers that the A’s would be in the postseason. After sweeping the Yankees in August, Mark Canha was more bold in his declaration.
“We’re not in this to slip into the wild card and play a wild-card game, we’re in this to win the World Series,” he said then.
October of late have been a bleak; not since 2013 has an A’s team won the division. Not since 2006 has an A’s team advanced beyond the division series. But another round of greatness has come to a head. So, a year removed from a grim wild card appearance in New York, what’s this team have that might get it over the hump this October?
Don’t discount chemistry, an underrated home field advantage (which they have a shot at for the wildcard game) and maturity. I asked some A’s to go a little deeper into the intangibles.
What stands out about the A’s team’s chemistry?
Closer Liam Hendriks: “There’s a lot more guys that are not worried about what they’re going to do, they’re worried about what
the team is going to do. The chemistry in this clubhouse, you’d think we were leading the division by 15 games coming into this clubhouse..”
LHP Sean Manaea: “Chemistry is still the same. Different guys came in and meshed right in. Everybody is one. Which is awesome.
“The core group of guys, when I first got here in 2015, in Midland (with the RockHounds) everyone was really fun. Everyone joked around with each other. Everyone wanted to win, to win a championship and that was a lot of fun. But the core group that moved up together stayed together and built that team chemistry from the ground up. I think everyone bought into that mindset.”
That 2015 Midland RockHounds roster included Matt Olson, Manaea and Chad Pinder and won the Texas League championship.
Hendriks: “Everybody feeds off each other, it’s a snowball thing, and we’ve had that feeling in this clubhouse for a while now.”
What stands out about the team’s maturity and work ethic?
Matt Chapman: “I think it’s awesome, I think the way we’re competing and how much fun we’re having doing it, our team works really
hard and everything we’ve accomplished we earned. We might not have all the nicest things or the highest payroll but we go out there and don’t complain and work hard and that’s all you can ask for.”
What is the A’s home field advantage?
Canha: “I think we understand how the ball works here. Our park is not offensive friendly, and that’s something that we’re used to, and other teams aren’t so it catches other teams off guard when they hit balls they think are home runs and they don’t leave the park.
“Other teams hit a lot of home runs in their ballpark that aren’t necessarily home runs in our ballpark. It speaks to the kind of power we have, it’s very real. Just shows up a little more.”
The A’s 262 home runs ranks fifth in the majors, 118 of those homers seared Oakland’s marine layer.
Hendriks: “Well, nobody else wants to play here, so that’s one of our main things. No one wants to play here. And pound-forpound we have some of the best fans in baseball. So if we can fill this place out, it’ll be an intimidating place to come out to because the fans. when they come here, are die hard A’s fans.”