Dieter Kurtenbach wonders if this is the year the A’s finally break their firstround playoff curse.
Make no mistake, the A’s can win the World Series.
They have the starting pitching. They have the relief pitching. They have the bats. They play exceptional defense.
They have the right manager.
They just need to get over a first-round hump.
Over the past 30 seasons, since being swept in the World Series by the underdog Cincinnati Reds, the A’s have reached the postseason 13 times. Only once have they advanced to the second round.
For the past two seasons, the A’s have posted one of the best records in baseball. But they didn’t win their division, so they were relegated to the wildcard round, a one-game loser-go-home proposition.
Both times they went home. Their goal this season, even before the pandemic turned the traditional 162-game marathon into a 60-game dash, was to win the division and avoid the one-game wild-card round.
They did just that, finishing seven games ahead of their closest rival, the Houston Astros — the sign-stealing team whose cheating ways had rendered Oakland’s sparkling re
cord second-best two years in a row.
The reward? A bestof-three-game series, the same as everyone else who made baseball’s expanded and experimental postseason.
Yes, instead of a onegame playoff, they are guaranteed two games.
The A’s and luck have never been good friends.
They go into this series against the Chicago White Sox without their best player, Matt Chapman. The best defensive third baseman in the game and a 36-home-run hitter in 2019, Chapman had surgery on his right hip earlier this month. The injury will keep him out until spring training 2021.
Drawing the White Sox in the first round was hardly a stroke of good fortune either. Yes, they are the seventh seed in an eight-team tournament, but they spent most of the
past month with the best record in the AL. Their bats fell asleep down the stretch, and their bullpen didn’t pick up the slack. Still they finished with just one less win than Oakland.
And should Chicago’s bats awaken, that’s bad news for the A’s. Against left-handed pitching the White Sox were inarguably the best hitting team in baseball, posting the highest home-run rate and a 14- 0 record against lefthanded starting pitchers.
The A’s were aiming to have two of their three starters for this series be lefties, but once the matchup was set, they pivoted out of that position. Still, their ace — 22-year- old Jesus Luzardo, who will start Game 1 — is a lefty. Chicago’s dominance of left-handed pitching also could neutralize one of the A’s top bullpen arms, Jake Diekman, and their long-reliever, Mike Minor.
If the A’s can find a way to counteract Chicago’s bats, they will also need
to find a way to get theirs going against their opponents’ two aces, Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel, who will start Games 1 and 2. Giolito was one of the best pitchers in baseball — he threw a no-hitter last month and has struck out 65 batters in his last 44 innings pitched. Keuchel, a former Cy Young Award winner for Houston, has a 3.06 ERA against the A’s in 22 games.
With Chapman out, the onus will fall on the A’s remaining stars, many of whom have underperformed this season: shortstop Marcus Semien (.223 batting average), first baseman Matt Olson (.195) and designated Khris Davis (.200).
All three of those hitters are too good to post numbers that low. Positive regression, it seems, is looming. The A’s are hoping it shows up starting today.
If the A’s can overcome the White Sox, they stand a tremendous chance of winning the American League — and perhaps even the World Series. The
AL is wide open, and while the games will be at neutral sites (unlike the wildcard round, where all three games will be played in Oakland), these will be best- of-seven series.
That format should allow Oakland’s pitching —
which is more deep than top-heavy — to shine. It gives the A’s great defense more chances to turn a game. It also gives manager Bob Melvin ample opportunity to mix-andmatch players. The A’s have one of the most versatile
lineups in baseball. Flexibility is strength in the playoffs, where every at-bat matters. The A’s just need to get to the “real” playoffs first.
And let’s be clear: Should the A’s win two games against Chicago — should they advance from the first round for the second time in 14 tries spanning 30 years — and find enough long- overdue fortune to win the World Series at the end of October, the title will be in no way fraudulent.
In many ways, this will be the most challenging MLB playoffs ever. More teams mean more games required to win it. This year’s champion shouldn’t be undercut — it should be celebrated with even more gusto.
The A’s, of course, aren’t worried about that.
They’re just trying to be the team that gets right at the right time — the characteristic of every World Series champion.
And after a strange year and a stranger season, that time is now.