Life without baseball seems to have gone on for years. But, a 2020 season uninterrupted would have us just 44 games into the schedule, a whole nine weeks shy of All-Star Weekend at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
The Oakland A’s were primed to jump through their window of opportunity. A blend of starting pitching — super rookies and wily veterans — in tandem with position players hitting their prime had created a perfect storm.
Visions of the A’s fulfilling this opportunity wane as the 2020 baseball season hangs in limbo. But, what would we have seen in a pandemic-less baseball season? Here’s a break down.
A’s vs Astros rivalry
At this point, the A’s would have played the Houston Astros six times and they’d be heading back to Houston for a four-game series May 25-28. Prior to sports’ global shutdown, Mike Fiers blowing the whistle on the Houston Astros’ elaborate cheating scheme was the talk of the industry. Tensions were rising with talking heads such as David Ortiz calling Fiers a snitch and players from both teams voicing concern about their safety on the field and off it.
You’d have to think that Fiers’ turn in the rotation would have come up in one of the first six games. If not, then surely in the next four. Only by design or by injury could he miss all 10.
This weekend the A’s would be playing a three-game series against the Angels in Anaheim, having completed a three-game set in Seattle on Thursday.
A’s vs. Playoff teams
The A’s would have played four 2019 playoff teams at this juncture: The Astros, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees (at home) and Tampa Bay Rays (on the road). They’d also have played 2019 AL Wild Card wannabe Boston Red Sox (at home) and Cleveland Indians (on the road).
The season opener in Oakland would have brought Josh Donaldson back to the Coliseum for the first time as a member of the Twins. The first days of May would have brought the Rays to town for a rematch of the last game the A’s played — a 5-1 wild-card playoff loss before a crowd of 54,005 at the Coliseum on Oct. 2.
A’s simulated season says…
Strat-o-matic is running a 2020 MLB season simulation based on preseason projections to give us some boxscores and semblance of normalcy.
The AL West is a dead heat at the top. As of May 12, the A’s (27-16) were game back of the Astros (28-15). The Texas Rangers were in third place, eight games back. The Angels, despite the offensive prowess of Anthony Rendon and Mike Trout, were 11.5 games out of first. The Mariners were again bringing up the rear,15.5 games back.
Marcus Semien, coming off a season in which he placed third in the AL MVP race, seems to have picked up right where he left off. He was batting .275 with 10 home runs with an .820 OPS. Matt Chapman is bating .272 with 11 home runs and a .918 OPS.
The pitching staff was humming. Sean Manaea was killing it with a 1.84 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 53 innings. Fiers had a 3.27 ERA in 55 innings. Frankie Montas had a 3.75 ERA in 50 innings. Jesús Luzardo, despite 40 strikeouts in 35 innings, was carrying a 5.35 ERA after seven starts.
