The Oakland A's Are Going To Lose 125 Games

Justin Sullivan. Getty Images.

We need to talk about how bad the Oakland A's are. This isn't just a bad team. It's not just a horrible team. This is even beyond the worst team of our lifetimes. The Oakland A's have a very good chance of being the worst team in baseball since the 1800's.

This blame lies squarely on the owner John J. Fisher. He pulled a real life Major League and made the team awful on purpose. This way when he left to Las Vegas, he could point to the low attendance and the lack of support for the city of Oakland as reasons why. Meanwhile, he put a product out there that has no chance of success. It's sabotage and Rob Manfred and the rest of MLB stood by and let it happen.

So while I do feel legitimately awful for the fans of Oakland who are going to lose the team that they grew up watching, it must be discussed how historically bad this team truly is.

The Oakland A's (or as Frank calls them, the "Oakland ASS") currently stands at 4-18. Teams have gotten off to worse starts in history. The 1988 Baltimore Orioles started off 0-21. They fired Cal Ripken Sr. who was the manager after an 0-6 start. Billy Ripken was an unfortunate Sports Illustrated coverboy during the streak.

So why do I think the A's will be so much worse than even the 1988 Orioles? Stats like this don't help.

Stats like this don't help either. Here are the three worst ERA's in the American League this season by team:

13. 5.43 (Chicago White Sox)

14. 5.50 (Kansas City Royals)

15. 7.97 (Oakland A's)

The A's have a starting pitcher named Shintaro Fujinami who is one of the highest paid players on the team with a $3.25 million dollar salary. He's made four starts. It hasn't gone well.

It was clear the A's had no intention of being even remotely competitive during the last off-season. They traded former Gold Glove catcher Sean Murphy to the Braves in a three team deal where the best player back (William Contreras) in return wound up going the Brewers. The A's also traded the most dependable starting pitcher they've had the past two seasons in Cole Irvin to Baltimore. 

I have zero issues with tanking. Under the current rules, it can be the best way to build a winner for any team that's not in a huge market.  The Astros and Orioles both had multiple 100 loss seasons but both used those draft picks to become competitive today. It's a big ask for any fan base to be Andy Dufresne wading through shit for years but at least those fans knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. What redemption do A's fans get for sitting through this? MLB is treating them like Brooks.

They play next against the Angels starting tonight for a four game series but I have my eyes set on the Reds series after that. The Reds are also a horrible team. These games are in Oakland. Will anyone go? The only promotion all weekend is a Tony Kemp poster giveaway on Sunday. Tony Kemp is hitting .157.

In May alone, they play the Mariners, Astros, Yankees, Rangers and Braves. That's 13 games against the Mariners and Astros alone. Things are going to get even worse. A commissioners job is to ensure there is competition in the league. This is beyond tanking for the future. The A's are committing baseball malpractice and Rob Manfred will do nothing.

This script was written years ago. The A's moving to Las Vegas was inevitable. To some extent, I completely understand. Las Vegas is a deserving MLB market. It just feels like Oakland never got a real chance to save their team. The way the A's are leaving is bad for Oakland and for baseball. It's one thing to enter the league like the 1962 Mets and go 40-120. A new team is exciting and is brimming with hope. It's quite another to go 36-126 on the way out the door.

This is right there with General Sherman and Lost as the worst ways to leave anything. This is a dreadful team that will have a very difficult time getting to 10 wins by Memorial Day. There is probably no right way to leave a city but there certainly is a wrong way.