What Happened In 2024?
69-93 – 4th in the American League West
The A’s gave a far more respectable account of themselves last season.
This was reflected in the stats too; in 2023, the A’s had the worst offence in MLB and one of the worst defences. Last season, however, the team finished the regular season with the eighth-most home runs (196) and tied for the eleventh-most walks (493), and also continued to improve defensively, finishing the regular season with 12 shutouts (tied for 9th in MLB), 169 home runs allowed (tied for 8th-best in MLB) and 128 double plays (5th-best in MLB). However, our pitchers also hit the third-most batters (92) and we allowed 764 total runs, which was tied for the 6th-most in MLB. There is still clearly work to do then.
There were wonderful moments throughout the season too – most notably, the team scoring 20 runs versus the Miami Marlins on 4 May, 19 runs against the Orioles on 6 July and 18 runs against the Phillies on 14 July. Winning the final home game, and the series, at the Oakland Coliseum against the Texas Rangers was also a fitting send-off to the A’s home since 1968.
Big Off-Season News
Notable comings and goings
In – Luis Severino (New York Mets), Jeffrey Springs (Tampa Bay Rays), Gio Urshela (Atlanta Braves), José Leclerc (Texas Rangers), Luis Urías (Seattle Mariners)
Out – Scott Alexander (Colorado Rockies), Ross Stripling (Kansas City Royals), Joe Boyle (Tampa Bay Rays), Nick Allen (Atlanta Braves)
The addition of Severino, Springs and LeClerc is a welcome boost to both a starting rotation and a bullpen that have needed upgrades for at least three seasons now. MLB.com A’s correspondent Martín Gallegos put it best in his announcement of Springs’ signing;
“Between a seven-year veteran in Springs and a nine-year veteran in Severino, the A’s now have a pair of experienced starters to anchor their rotation.”
In addition, signing Brent Rooker and last season’s breakout star Lawrence Butler to five and seven-year contract extensions respectively was fantastic news, as was bringing in Severino on the largest guaranteed contract in franchise history, although it is completely out-of-character for the John Fisher-era A’s.
On this, it is frankly the most John Fisher thing that the only reason the A’s will have a payroll around $105million for this season is because they have to in order to avoid the MLB Players’ Association (MLBPA) from potentially filing a grievance against them – as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the A’s again beginning to receive 100% of its revenue-sharing money, The Athletics need to spend 150% of the revenue-sharing funds it receives this season ($70million) in order to stay in the program and avert that potential grievance being filed.
The biggest news of all though, of course, is that we are no longer ‘The Oakland Athletics’ – following what is supposed to be a temporary move to Sacramento, we are now just ‘The Athletics’. I am not remotely happy about it, but I’ve reminded myself that what the organisation does off the field is not the players’ fault and most of the Oakland Athletics players I supported last season are still the same, even if the name and the location are not.
I remain an Athletics fan then. For now, at least.
One to watch
As much as I’d love to say Shotaro Morii, it’s very unlikely he will see the major leagues at all this season, no matter how good he may be or how much excitement there is around an 18-year-old two-way Japanese player being signed by an MLB team.
Imagine the headlines if he entered the action for the A’s against the Dodgers though, particularly if that other two-way Japanese player was on the field…
Instead, a more realistic name to look out for is Jacob Wilson. I really liked what we saw from him last season, and there’s every reason to believe that he could push on in his second season with the A’s, much like Larence Butler and Mason Miller did last season.
How the 2025 season will unfold
Given the improvements the team made in 2024, and the spending spree that has occurred since to lock in last season’s standout performers to extended contracts, improve the bullpen and bring in veterans like Urías and Urshela, it’s reasonable to expect that the A’s will continue to improve in 2025.
This is the A’s though, and I’m used to being disappointed by them at this point. If we can at least threaten that we maybe might possibly could make the Wild Card Round, I’ll be happy with that. Otherwise, finishing third in an AL West division that features the Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers would be a visible improvement on last season and I would take that as a win.
Ultimately, anything the team does on the field continues to be overshadowed by what the organisation is doing off the field though. The A’s recently unveiled a new ‘Las Vegas’ patch that will be wore on all uniforms from Opening Day onwards, along with new renderings for the proposed new stadium in Sin City, and a promise that the team will be moving to Last Vegas in time for the start of the 2028 season.
To this end, the organisation has also hired Marc Badain as the new team president, no doubt due to his experience relocating the NFL’s Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas. It’s a stark reminder that the team has been pulled from its home in Oakland ahead of a move to Las Vegas for purely-capitalist reasons, and that certainly leaves a bad taste in this A’s fan’s mouth.
Brett Walker is The Athletics contributor for Bat Flips & Nerds, and can be found on Twitter @BrettChatsSport. He can now also be found on Bluesky too.
Featured image – Allan Henry-Imagn Images
