The Oakland Athletics can't wrap up 2023 soon enough

The SF Chronicle put up a quick little Bay Area based sports quiz on it's website with 20 questions pertaining to events that happened in 2023.

There are some good 49ers questions and a number of Cal / Stanford questions for a number of sports, including Cal's men's water polo team.

There is just one question about the Oakland Athletics in that quiz, and I'll bet you can guess what it's in regards to.

No?

Well, the question asks "which Yankees pitcher threw a perfect game against the A’s at the Coliseum on June 28?"

Hoo boy. What an encapsulation of the A's season that maybe the most memorable moment of the year for many was having Domingo German come into the Coliseum with a 5.10 ERA and pitch a perfect game.

German would start just five games for the Yankees after that night at the Coliseum before being placed in an inpatient treatment program for alcohol abuse. He was cut by the Yankees after refusing a minor league assignment and it's likely that he's thrown his last pitch in the majors.

That's a bit dark, but that's where we're at right now. With any luck, Mark Kotsay and the A's won't have any more nights as unfortunate as that one. We'd truly hate to live through that experience again.

On the bright side, there are roughly 45 days left until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. While we don't have an exact date for the A's yet, typically teams start reporting between Feb 12-17 so give or take a few days.

The A's hopefully have another move or two in the tank before the end of the offseason. While adding a couple medium-upside bullpen arms was necessary, there are still serious question marks in the rotation and it's unclear who the A's plan to start at shortstop in 2024.

Darell Hernaiz is a popular choice as many fans, myself included, would love to see him get a crack at a spot in the opening day lineup. Nick Allen is a defensive replacement and Aledmys Diaz is extremely uninspiring, but we'll have to wait and see what David Forst comes up with.

The A's front office isn't exactly inspiring confidence in the club at the moment, and we all know the John Fisher story. Regardless, baseball season is the best season and it can't come soon enough.