The Oakland Athletics put together a magical run in 2002 that may never be repeated.
Billy Bean took a group of guys that couldn’t get on the field anywhere else and turned them into a division winner launching a phenomenon that took the baseball world by storm.
Moneyball was born and stolen by big market teams, and within a couple of years the A’s were thrust back to the basement with all the other small market teams.
Except for the occasional joke the Oakland A’s were back to irrelevance. But this year, ten years after the historic season that inspired a Hollywood classic, those pesky A’s are back at it, stealing headlines and smoking teams like the Red Sox and Angels on their way to the national spotlight.
They are the 29th best team in the league in terms of hitting for average, and their defense is mediocre in every way, but somehow, the A’s just keep winning.
Oakland is nineteen games over .500 with less than a month to play. October baseball is a possibility for Billy Bean’s squad despite a lineup of guys past their prime or in their first year as a regular player.
Meanwhile, the Oakland pitching staff continues to dominate, and carry the team to the promise land. We may not be able to name any of the guys in their rotation, but they take the ball every fifth day and take turns shutting down powerhouse lineups such as the Rangers and Angels.
The fact remains that the Athletics are the best story in baseball, mainly because they win games. They are a coach’s dream and the American League’s nightmare.
Good pitching, timely hitting, and an intangible magic that gives opposing teams an eerie feeling that tonight just isn’t their night.
Small market teams are not supposed to win. The Rangers and Angels are supposed to leave the poor A’s in the dust because they are “a small market team.”
But Oakland is breaking the mold again, leaving the rest of America wondering if this is the year that David conquers Goliath. Maybe A’s fans will finally get to dance in the streets after the fall classic.
It’s hard to fall in love with baseball, because it isn’t fair. Baseball does not have a salary cap. So unlike football, basketball and most other sports, the deck is stacked against teams like the Oakland Athletics. That’s what makes their success so enchanting.
So keep your eyes peeled this fall, because you just might see a magical season come to fruition in October. And maybe, just maybe, we could all be watching Moneyball two.
