The Oakland A’s who once had a lengthy lead as the best team in baseball have since lost that title as they are currently tied for first with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The AL West has proven to be the best division in baseball and it will come down to the wire to decide who gets the crown this year.
Currently, the A’s sit in second place with a 73-51 record after losing five in a row; their longest losing streak since May 2013. Oakland had some offensive struggles before the trade deadline on July 31st, but have since shown both offensive and pitching woes.
They are 15-15 in their last 30 games, but sending Yoenis Cespedes to Boston for Jon Lester was no doubt a shock to this club and has taken a toll on the offense. Since the Cespedes trade, the A’s are 7-10, and only 4-9 in games not started by Lester; who just lost his first game for the green and gold Sunday night as the A’s were swept by the Braves. In their last 18 games, this cold A’s offense has scored three or fewer runs 14 times.
The Cespedes trade meant that guys like Brandon Moss and Josh Donaldson had to step up. While Donaldson has continued to perform well, Moss has since been in a slump hitting just .213 since the break. They are also going without Jed Lowrie and Craig Gentry who are both on the disabled list, which isn’t helping their struggles at the plate.
Pitching wise, Jason Hammel continues to unimpress. He had a few good starts, but is 1-5 with a 6.75 ERA in an A’s uni. Sonny Gray and Scott Kazmir have also shown some recent struggles as they have each allowed four-plus earned runs in two of their last three starts. With this rotation, they were expected to win the low scoring games, but lately they have been struggling in every aspect of the game.
The bullpen has also struggled and seem to be allowing a lot of 0-2 count hits during crucial at bats.
While it may be difficult to put the blame on the loss of Cespedes, it’s definitely a factor. After all, the A’s were 228-131 with him in the lineup and 28-44 without. Just having him a part of the batting order changed the dynamic of the team. Guys like Crisp, Norris, Moss, and Donaldson were pitched differently with that power threat in the middle of the lineup. Now without him, the A’s hitters have to make adjustments, but that hasn’t come easy for them.
So should the A’s be concerned? Absolutely they should be concerned. The Angels are on a hot streak and have hitters such as Mike Trout and Albert Pujols while also having an improved rotation and bullpen to back them up.
The A’s do not want to have to play in a one game elimination, a scenario they have not played well in for two consecutive postseasons; they want the division.
Now, August hasn’t always been a great month for the A’s. They’ve shown August struggles before (last year in fact) but it is a tight AL West race and Oakland needs to get it together quick if they want to win this division for the third year in a row.
Pitching wins championships, but they need run support to win games. The A’s will face the New York Mets in a two-game set this week before the Angels come to town in what should be an exciting and intense series, as well as an opportunity to gain some ground in the West.