Five Defining Moments of Athletics’ 2014 Season
By Tony Frye
Jeff Samardzija Weeps Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports
August and September
To say that the collapse of the Oakland Athletics was epic somehow downplays how truly truly epic it was. The A’s went from being the best team in baseball, with 14 consecutive winning months and the favorite to win it all, to the worst team in baseball over the course of six weeks. The bats didn’t swing, all star pitchers couldn’t pitch, defense made too many mistakes and Alberto Callaspo, once the toughest K in baseball, swung at every pitch he saw. It was dismal, at best, and completely depressing at worst.
From August 10 to the end of the season, the Athletics were 16-30 and had only strung together three 2-game winning streaks. Suffering numerous injuries, fatigue and little bad luck, it seemed, for the first time all season, unlikely that the Athletics would be hosting a parade in October, let alone getting into the post season. The team squandered a four game lead in the west eventually hitting a season low 11.5 games behind first place. Things did not look good for Oakland. Fans were jumping ship, Melvin was jumping down throats and the Angels were jumping to the top of the pack with a six week stretch that will be remembered as a 400 game winning streak.