MLB: Why the Oakland A’s are Oakland Awful

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After showering praise on all five AL East squads, “Gibby and Bastl conclude the latest episode by analyzing why the Oakland Athletics are having such a miserable season.

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Why the Oakland Athletics Are Awful

The numbers don’t lie. Oakland’s ball club is having a spectacularly dubious campaign through almost two months of play. Last place in the AL West with a 10-34 record – 9-33 when the Pitch Clock episode was recorded – and a run differential of -159. To put that into context, the MLB team with the second-worst run differential as of May 17 are the Chicago White Sox at -63. Oakland is 96 runs worse.

What in the blazes is going on?

“They’ve always had good teams but they can’t attract crowds out there, so they’re not making much money. The stadium is run down. It’s a terrible stadium. The Raiders left! What does THAT tell you?”

To Gibbons’ point, the current Las Vegas Raiders were, up until 2019, the Oakland Raiders. But financing for a new stadium with the city fell through and the NFL franchise packed up its bags for Nevada. Now the Athletics are the only sports team that calls the Coliseum home, a building considered by many to be the worst facility in baseball and by a wide margin to boot.

As is so often the case, money plays a huge role in a team’s success. As per Spotrac.com, the A’s have the lowest payroll in the majors at $59.5M. The Orioles are next with $66.4M, yet the latter are playing wonderful baseball. Even players like Brent Rooker and Esteury Ruiz, both having decent seasons, can’t keep the ship afloat. Through 12 games pitcher Shintaro Fujinami has an ERA of 12.24!

Gibbons hints at what the near future may hold for the Athletics.

“The dirtbags of the NFL (Raiders) thrived on that but they got outta there. I think the Athletics are on the verge of doing the same thing.”

Gibbons concludes by alluding to tanking in baseball. It’s a strategy by which a franchise will ostensibly make decisions to that will result in poor play, with the reward being beneficial draft choices and off-season acquisitions. He bemoans the strategy, believing it shouldn’t have a place at the professional level.

There are reports that the organization has reached an agreement to build a new stadium in Las Vegas.