Major League Baseball

The Oakland A's are baseball's least fortunate team

Published Jun. 20, 2015 3:11 p.m. ET

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By Matthew Savage

On Friday, the Oakland A’s suffered yet another loss, dropping their record to 29-41 on the year. It’s hard to believe that this is the same team that went to the playoffs in each of the last three years. Sure Billy Beane traded several key players, Josh Donaldson being the biggest, and perhaps the players are still demoralized by their absolutely terrible playoff loss last fall, but really, the A’s are still a good team. Bad luck is the main reason for the A’s descent into the cellar of the cruel AL West.

The A’s have an expected W-L of 38-32. Based on the runs they have scored (312) versus the runs they have allowed (281), the A’s should be nine games better than they are. The A’s have managed to go 5-18 in one-run games and 0-6 in extra innings. That’s surprising even for the a team with a terrible bullpen (which admittedly is what the A’s have). Of course, it doesn’t help that they’re missing closer Sean Doolittle. The A’s balance out a terrible bullpen with an amazing rotation and a strong offense.

The A’s have a starter ERA of 3.07, ranking them third in MLB and first in the AL. The rotation hardly even misses the aces Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija that were briefly part of the team last year. Sonny Gray has been one of the best pitchers in MLB this year and currently has an ERA of 1.95. Kendall Graveman has the worst ERA of any A’s starter, and yet he’s only at 4.02.

The A’s have one of the better offenses in baseball, too. The A’s rank seventh in weighted runs created plus, which measures average, on base, and slugging with park adjustments. The offense would be even better if offseason acquisition Ben Zobrist wasn’t having the worst year of his career in addition to being injured a majority of the year to this point.

The A’s should be better; it’s just a matter of poor luck in the form of injuries and bad close game performance that they’re one of the worst teams in 2015. Unfortunately, with a 10-game wild card deficit at this point in the year, it’s hard to hope for a miracle turnaround. Billy Beane will likely sell any expensive players with value at the deadline, and A’s fans will have to wait at least another year to see the team go for it all.

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