Five Defining Moments of Athletics’ 2014 Season

It’s always Sonny in Oakland Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Game 162

In true Athletics fashion, the entire season came down to the final game. Over the course of the week, the A’s had several opportunities to clinch a wild card berth and in the final five days there were approximately 87 scenarios that could play out between Oakland, Seattle, Kansas City, and Detroit. It was getting tense for the Swingin’ A’s fans.

After a few rough outings, it was widely speculated that Sonny Gray was simply done for the season. He’d pitched a career high number of innings and was just too tired to be competitive. In his last two outings, he threw a 12 K game and a complete game shut out to close the season. Gray looked masterful on the mound and, with the most run support he’d seen in weeks at 4, was able to secure a win for Oakland and ensure a third consecutive post season berth.

Where the A’s will go with this opportunity remains to be seen. If all goes well, they’ll be playing in Los Angeles in their third consecutive division series and if it doesn’t go well, we’ll look back at the season and question every decision Beane made, every pinch hit that Melvin used Callaspo, every trade, every run, every throw to the plate, every Susan Slusser tweet, everything we know about baseball. We’ll blame the possum or the donkey or the Cleveland Creeper or the sewage or Lew Wolff or Mayor Quan but hopefully after tomorrow, we’ll be celebrating good times, come on. The Athletics have given themselves one chance to turn everything around and get back on track so put on your jersey and cheer them on! It has been an exciting season with a ton of memorable moments (I’m sure I’ve missed one or two in this article) and I’m not ready for it to be over. Let’s go Oakland!

Remember, if you’re looking for a great place to watch the game with a ton of A’s fans, swing by our viewing party in Union City!