White Cleat Beat
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Oakland Athletics Season in Review: Biggest Surprises and Letdowns

By Zachary Engberg

SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 27: Blake Treinen #39 of the Oakland Athletics pours beer over the head of Mike Fiers #50 as they celebrate clinching a wild card spot after the game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 27, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - SEPTEMBER 27: Blake Treinen #39 of the Oakland Athletics pours beer over the head of Mike Fiers #50 as they celebrate clinching a wild card spot after the game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 27, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) /
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SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 28: Starter Brett Anderson #30 of the Oakland Athletics delivers a pitch during the first inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 28, 2019, in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 28: Starter Brett Anderson #30 of the Oakland Athletics delivers a pitch during the first inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 28, 2019, in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /

Surprise No. 2 Starter: Brett Anderson

The last time the A’s had a playoff game at home, Brett Anderson was their second-best starting pitcher and a pretty good one at that. But even then, Anderson had terrible injury luck.

From 2011 to 2018, Anderson only had one season in which he pitched 100 innings (2015) and had lost much of his juice that we saw in his last playoff start – six shutout innings with six strikeouts – in the 2012 ALDS.

But this season Anderson, still only 31, stepped up in the face of the loss of Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton, AJ Puk, Jesus Luzardo and Frankie Montas.

Anderson has toed the rubber 31 times for the A’s, posting a 3.89 ERA in 176 IP. He has gone at least five innings in 27 of his 31 starts and in each of his last 10 in the regular season.

He was especially impressive away from the Coliseum – a rarity for A’s starters this season – with a 3.22 ERA and 1.147 WHIP in 16 starts, going 9-3 while nearly doubling his home SO/W ratio (2.60 vs 1.31).

Not only that, but he runs the funniest and most irreverent Twitter account of any A’s player.