The Oakland Athletics finished the 2022 campaign with a 60-102 record, the worst in the American League.
They decided to tear things apart and trade their best players for prospects after their 2018-2021 contending window that delivered three straight playoff berths from 2018 to 2020 and a 86-76 finish in 2021.
If you looked at them this past season, you saw a mediocre squad that looked like a Triple-A team for most of the year.
It’s easy to forget, however, that the Athletics were competitive for most of the last 25 seasons in baseball, earning 11 playoffs appearances over that span.
In fact, since 1998, they lead baseball in an exciting category.
Most walk-offs since MLB went to 30 teams in 1998:
220 OAK 😮
189 PHI
188 CLE
185 SFG
184 LAD
183 SD
182 CIN
177 MIN
176 NYM
175 TB
172 ATL
171 STL
170 PIT MIA
169 COL WSN
167 NYY
166 MIL
165 LAA CHW
164 ARI
161 TOR
160 CHC
156 BAL
153 SEA BOS
148 DET
147 HOU
144 TEX
140 KC pic.twitter.com/nJEANEKyyb— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) December 11, 2022
Not only do they lead the majors in walk-off wins since that year, but they do it with a 31-game cushion.
Oakland Has Had Some Really Talented Players Over The Last 25 years
They had some really impressive rosters in the early 2000s, and it’s easy to forget they had players like Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, Jeremy Giambi, Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada, Scott Hatteberg, and many more.
Most of these players were portrayed in successful baseball movie “Moneyball”, most notably Hatteberg as the face of a new way of building a cheap roster.
That film has a walk-off win as one of its main moments: a home run by Hatteberg to win 20 consecutive games in September 4.
They also had top pitchers like Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Rich Harden, Dan Haren, and others.
Oakland has managed to reinvent the team and the roster many times over the last 25 years, and they have been competitive more often than not.
Credit to the front office and coaching staff is due.
Hopefully the franchise can find a future home and some stability in the upcoming months.
NEXT: Chart Shows Why Sean Murphy Needs To Leave Oakland