Oakland Athletics

For many baseball fans, even those of their rival teams, it is hard to watch the Oakland Athletics these days and not feel at least a tinge of sadness for this team with such a memorable past but no future. Beset with financial constraints for many years as well as a creaking old stadium that no one seems able or willing to replace, the A’s will play their gritty Oakland swansong in 2024 before relocating to the glitz of Las Vegas, where they will share their flashy new stadium with a casino. It is a tough end for a franchise that has fought so hard over the years to remain competitive despite the barriers they have faced. The Athletics are over a century and a half old, having started out in Philadelphia as an amateur team in the 1860s before going professional in 1875. The “A” on their shirts is among the oldest sports logos in all sports, appearing on uniforms from the late 1860s onward. Even in the early days , the team was seen as something of an underdog and was once called a “white elephant” (a possession that is useless and expensive but impossible to get rid of) by the owner of the New York Giants, to which legendary Athletics manager Connie Mack responded by adopting the white elephant as the team’s mascot. He presented the Giants’ owner with a stuffed toy version of the mascot when the two teams met in 1905 in the World Series, which the Giants won 4-1. The A’s would get their own back soon though, winning three World Series in the five years between 1910-1914, two against those same Giants, and losing another to the Boston Braves in 1915. While still in Philadelphia, and still under Mack’s guidance, the Athletics added another World Series title in 1929 before trading titles with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1930 and 1931. Beset by financial troubles, the team was purchased by a real estate tycoon, however, and moved to Kansas City in 1955. This move did not go well on the field at all, with the team failing to register a winning season in its thirteen years in Missouri, and the owner’s approach to running the team (and ticketing) putting off Kansas City fans who had initially been enthusiastic about the new team. The move to Oakland in 1968, however, inspired the rise of one of the great World Series dynasties of the modern game, with the A’s breaking into the playoffs in 1971. They were swept by the high-powered Baltimore Orioles, but would return in 1972 led by Reggie Jackson, who would become known as Mr. October for his postseason heroics, where they would not only beat the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS but take the Cincinnati Reds all the way to Game Seven of the World Series. The Athletics would hang on to an early lead to win 3-2, bringing the first-ever MLB title to Oakland and the franchise’s first not won by manager Connie Mack. In 1972 and 1973, they beat their AL rivals the Orioles twice in the ALCS, facing the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers in subsequent World Series. While the Dodgers in ‘73 were handled with relative ease in five games, the ‘72 showdown with the Mets would go to Game Seven, with Mr. October claiming the MVP as he bashed in a two-run home run to help the Athletics to a 5-2 win and another World Series triumph. It would take the A’s over a decade to reach such heights again, but they would in the late 1980s, led by a new crop of iconic players such as Rickey Henderson (who could steal a base before you knew he was on one) and Jose Canseco (who looked like he could hit a ball to the moon, and almost could). The A’s once again reached three consecutive World Series, dropping the first to the Dodgers, sweeping the San Francisco Giants in the next, and being swept themselves in the last by the Reds. After a tough loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS in 1992, the Athletics disappeared from the postseason until 2000, when the team began one of the most fascinating, and influential, experiments in modern sports. Realizing, after MVP Jason Giambi was poached by the rich New York Yankees, that his team would not be able to compete for the top players financially, the A’s general manager Billy Beane spearheaded a move towards data analytics (as made famous in the 2011 Brad Pitt film, Moneyball), focusing on assembling a team that could win as a collective rather than relying on star power and the gut feelings associated with conventional scouting. It paid dividends, with the Athletics posting two seasons in four years with over 100 wins, setting a record for the longest winning streak in American League history (20 consecutive wins), and qualifying for the ALDS in all four seasons. Heartbreakingly for Beane and the A’s fans, their team lost all four ALDS series in Game Five deciders, including the last encounter, against the Boston Red Sox, where the Athletics were two games up but lost three in a row to miss out on a spot in the ALCS (including some shocking umpire calls in Game Three that possibly turned the series). They were beaten 4-3 in Game Five after Boston rallied in the 6th inning with a Manny Ramirez three-run home run and the A’s couldn’t quite claw their way back. Nonetheless, the Red Sox were clever enough to see the way the tide was going with Beane’s data analytics, and implemented their own system that helped win the franchise the World Series in 2004 (their first in 86 years, the breaking the Curse of the Bambino). Data analytics are now the norm not only across professional baseball, but also other sports such as soccer, where Beane has been hired as a consultant. The A’s hung on for a few years despite growing despair around their financial troubles and stadium woes, even making one more ALCS appearance in 2006 (a 4-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers), but as their move to Vegas has become a certainty, their performance has fallen off a cliff (the team went 50-112 in 2023). But through it all, can the Oakland Athletics defy the bankers and the odds in 2024 for one last hurrah? If any team can, it would be them. Baseball fans nationwide and worldwide will be watching.

Oakland Athletics Rivalries

The Oakland Athletics have a mostly friendly cross-town (or cross-bridge) rivalry with the San Francisco Giants known as the Bay Bridge Series or Battle of the Bay. Since 1997 when interleague play began, the teams began playing one another in actual regular season games, turning the heat up on what had previously only been preseason exhibition meetings. It was reported on one occasion that Giants fans were charged more than double that of A’s fans for parking at the Oakland Coliseum, but could receive a discount if they shouted “Go A’s!” The Athletics also have strong rivalries with other members of their division like the Seattle Mariners and fellow Californians, the Los Angeles Angels. 

Getting tickets to Oakland A’s games, even those involving rival teams or top players, might seem easy given the size of their stadium, but be aware that not all of the massive ballpark is always open for all games and not all seats offer great views. Head to TicketX to find affordable tickets for the best seating options at all Oakland A’s games.