On May 4th, the Oakland A's absolutely demolished the Miami Marlins 20-4 in one of the best offensive performances of the year. Since that day, the A's have lost 16 of 23 games and have returned to the bottom half of the AL standings.
While there are some bright spots for the A's, and we absolutely will get there, the inability to field a competent Major League Baseball roster has been evident in the last month.
The only players who have even truly played at an above average level this season are Brent Rooker and Mason Miller.
Rooker is hitting .280 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI's, and has clearly been the best hitter on the team. Rooker leads the team in WAR, total bases and unfortunately strikeouts. The biggest disappointment with the success of Rooker has been the unwillingness of A's fans to latch on to the young star. Rooker is one of the rising hitters in baseball, but due to John Fisher's tendency to trade away young talent, A's fans expect Rooker to be gone sooner than later.
Similarly, the same logic applies to the young fireballer Mason Miller. The young closer has a 1.88 ERA and is dominating when he gets the chance for Oakland. Although the A's are rarely in save situations, Miller has been electric in his 19 appearances this season. Only allowing a .143 batting average against, Miller hasn't given up a homerun yet and has not looked human.
Unfortunately, through all this, the A's still have no hope. The fanbase is defeated and wants to support a minor league team more than the A's, and the discourse is only surrounding the eventual move to Las Vegas.
Just years ago, the Athletics would sell out the stadium for playoff games against the Detroit Tigers and play win or go home Game 162's at home. Now, 3,000 fans is record setting for the season and the A's are the laughing stock of major league baseball.
With all the being said, support the players. The athletes on the field are not the reason the A's are bad, nor are they the ones who want to be bad. Major League Baseball players want to win. The players want to do well and succeed in their career, but that's not what John Fisher wants.
So you don't have to go to the games, but don't take it out on the players. If you're an A's fan, support the players and do your best to keep the team in Oakland. Who knows, Fisher could sell the team soon. One can hope, right?
Let's see the 2005 numbers again, hey?