2014 Oakland Athletics season

2014 Oakland Athletics
American League Wild Card
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record 88–74 (.543)
Other information
Owner(s) Lewis Wolff, John Fisher
General manager(s) Billy Beane
Manager(s) Bob Melvin
Local television Comcast SportsNet California
(Glen Kuiper, Ray Fosse, Shooty Babitt)
Local radio KGMZ
(Ken Korach, Vince Cotroneo, Ray Fosse)
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The 2014 Oakland Athletics season was the 46th for the franchise at O.co Coliseum, as well as the 114th in club history. Oakland failed to defend their back-to-back division titles in the American League West. Oakland led MLB with 59 wins at the 2014 All-Star break, but were only a few games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Starting in late July, the Athletics began a slump that would last the rest of the season, eventually finishing 10 games behind the Angels . Nonetheless, the A's made the second wild card spot in playoffs. They lost the Wild Card Game to the Kansas City Royals in 12 innings.

Regular season

Oakland's 2014 season was full of ups and downs. They held the best record in the MLB at (59-36) going into the All-Star break, and were ranked by the Bleacher Report as the number one team in Major League Baseball. By mid August, however, the Athletics had quickly begun losing ground in the AL race with a record of (11-25) through a 36-game span from August 10, to September 19, and were in the midst of what some called an historic collapse. General manager, Billy Beane and his well known "Moneyball" strategy came under increased scrutiny when Oakland made several personnel transactions, the most significant of which was finalized on July 31, 2014, while they still maintained a 2-game division lead over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. This deal sent All Star left fielder Yoenis Céspedes to the Boston Red Sox in return for starting pitcher Jon Lester and veteran outfielder Jonny Gomes.[1][2] They would finish the season with a record of (88-74) and finished the second half of the year with a (29-38) record. Ended the season 10 games out of first place behind the Angels, and barely clinched the 2nd Wild Card spot just one game ahead of division rival, Seattle Mariners.[3]

American League West

AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 98 64 0.605 — 52–29 46–35
Oakland Athletics 88 74 0.543 10 48–33 40–41
Seattle Mariners 87 75 0.537 11 41–40 46–35
Houston Astros 70 92 0.432 28 38–43 32–49
Texas Rangers 67 95 0.414 31 33–48 34–47

American League Wild Card

Division Leaders W L Pct.
(1) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 98 64 0.605
(2) Baltimore Orioles 96 66 0.593
(3) Detroit Tigers 90 72 0.556
Wild Card teams
(Top 2 qualify for 1-game playoff)		 W L Pct. GB
(4) Kansas City Royals 89 73 0.549 +1
(5) Oakland Athletics 88 74 0.543 —
Seattle Mariners 87 75 0.537 1
Cleveland Indians 85 77 0.525 3
New York Yankees 84 78 0.519 4
Toronto Blue Jays 83 79 0.512 5
Tampa Bay Rays 77 85 0.475 11
Chicago White Sox 73 89 0.451 15
Boston Red Sox 71 91 0.438 17
Houston Astros 70 92 0.432 18
Minnesota Twins 70 92 0.432 18
Texas Rangers 67 95 0.414 21

Record against opponents

Final season record
2014 AL Records

Source: AL Standings Head-to-Head
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET HOU KC LAA MIN NYY OAK SEA TB TEX TOR NL
Baltimore — 11–8 5–1 3–4 1–5 4–3 3–4 4–2 4–3 13–6 2–4 5–2 12–7 6–1 11–8 12–8
Boston 8–11 — 4–3 2–5 1–5 4–3 6–1 2–5 4–2 7–12 3–4 1–5 9–10 4–2 7–12 9–11
Chicago 1–5 3–4 — 9–10 9–10 3–3 6–13 1–5 9–10 2–5 4–3 3–4 5–2 2–4 5–2 11–9
Cleveland 4–3 5–2 10–9 — 8–11 5–2 10–9 2–5 11–8 4–3 2–4 2–4 4–2 6–1 2–4 10–10
Detroit 5–1 5–1 10–9 11–8 — 4–3 13–6 3–4 9–10 3–4 5–2 2–4 3–4 4–3 1–5 12–8
Houston 3–4 3–4 3–3 2–5 3–4 — 3–3 7–12 3–3 4–2 8–11 9–10 2–5 11–8 4–3 5–15
Kansas City 4–3 1–6 13–6 9–10 6–13 3–3 — 3–3 11–8 4–3 5–2 2–5 4–2 5–1 4–3 15–5
Los Angeles 2–4 5–2 5–1 5–2 4–3 12–7 3–3 — 7–0 2–4 10–9 7–12 5–2 14–5 5–2 12–8
Minnesota 3–4 2–4 10–9 8–11 10–9 3–3 8–11 0–7 — 3–4 1–6 5–2 2–4 2–5 4–2 9–11
New York 6–13 12–7 5–2 3–4 4–3 2–4 3–4 4–2 4–3 — 2–4 3–3 8–11 4–3 11–8 13–7
Oakland 4–2 4–3 3–4 4–2 2–5 11–8 2–5 9–10 6–1 4–2 — 9–10 4–2 9–10 4–3 13–7
Seattle 2–5 5–1 4–3 4–2 4–2 10–9 5–2 12–7 2–5 3–3 10–9 — 4–3 9–10 4–3 9–11
Tampa Bay 7–12 10–9 2–5 2–4 4–3 5–2 2–4 2–5 4–2 11–8 2–4 3–4 — 5–2 8–11 10–10
Texas 1–6 2–4 4–2 1–6 3–4 8–11 1–5 5–14 5–2 3–4 10–9 10–9 2–5 — 2–4 10–10
Toronto 8–11 12–7 2–5 4–2 5–1 3–4 3–4 2–5 2–4 8–11 3–4 3–4 11–8 4–2 — 13–7

Schedule and results

Game log

Legend
Athletics Win Athletics Loss Game Postponed / Tie Home Game
2014 Game Log
Total: 88-74 (Home: 48-33; Away: 40-41)

Post-season

Wild Card Game

The 2014 American League Wild Card game took place on September 30, 2014 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. The Oakland Athletics took on the Kansas City Royals. Oakland went out to an early lead after a first inning 2-run homerun from Brandon Moss, scoring Coco Crisp. Kansas City responded in the bottom half of the inning, and trimmed Oakland's Lead to 1 after a Billy Butler single, scoring Nori Aoki. The Royals later took the lead in the 3rd inning, following two RBI singles from Lorenzo Cain, and Eric Hosmer. In the top of the 6th inning, Brandon Moss hit his second homerun of the game, which scored Sam Fuld and Josh Donaldson. Followed by RBI singles from Derek Norris and Coco Crisp, making the score 7-3 Oakland after 6 innings. The Royals then scored 3 more runs in the bottom of the 8th inning, making the score 7-6. Kansas City would later tie the game in the bottom of the 9th using their well documented "small ball" techniques, and scored from an Aoki sacrifice fly, sending the game to extra innings. Both teams remained scoreless until the top of the 12th, where Alberto Callaspo scored Josh Reddick on a single to left field, which put the Athletics up 8-7. In the bottom of the 12th Kansas city rallied back, and tied the game on an infield single, and later won the game in walk-off fashion on a Salvador Pérez single down the 3rd base line. The 2014 AL Wild Card playoff game became the longest game in the history of the MLB wild card. The Royals would later continue their hot streak, and found themselves in the 2014 World Series, where they later lost to the San Francisco Giants.[4][5]

Postseason game log

2014 Postseason Game Log
Total: 0-1 (Home: 0-0; Away: 0-1)

Roster

2014 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

All-stars

The following players represented the Athletics at the 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star Game:

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Sacramento River Cats Pacific Coast League Steve Scarsone
AA Midland RockHounds Texas League Aaron Nieckula
A Stockton Ports California League Ryan Christenson
A Beloit Snappers Midwest League Rick Magnante
A-Short Season Vermont Lake Monsters New York–Penn League David Newhan
Rookie AZL Athletics Arizona League Ruben Escalera

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Midland[6]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/sports/jenkins/article/A-s-trade-of-Yoenis-C-spedes-has-backfired-5744915.php
  2. ↑ http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2135942-mlb-power-rankings-where-all-30-mlb-teams-stand-after-the-all-star-break/page/30
  3. ↑ http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/mlb/standings/?c_id=oak#20140928
  4. ↑ http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=340930107
  5. ↑ Major League Baseball wild-card game#American League
  6. ↑ Leventhal, Josh, ed. (2014). Baseball America 2015 Almanac. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-54-1.

External links

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