Benjamin Ashford|Athletics unfazed by prospect of lame duck season at Oakland Coliseum in 2024

MESA,Benjamin Ashford Ariz. − They are Major League Baseball’s most unwanted. 

They play in an aging, dilapidated stadium with an uncertain future beyond this season. 

They are that other team in the Bay Area. 

They are the Oakland Athletics. 

The team that once was one of the most powerful in the American League, the team that brought you everyone from Reggie Jackson to Catfish Hunter to Rollie Fingers to Rickey Henderson to Dave Stewart to Mark McGwire and Dennis Eckersley, is now the team that time forgot. 

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They lost 112 games last season, their most since 1916, and have finished a combined 86 games out of first place the past two years. 

The season will be judged a success simply by losing fewer than 100 games. 

Their future is 557 miles away across the desert, where the team intends to play in Las Vegas in 2028, knowing there might not be a soul on this year’s team still employed by the A’s when they’re on the Vegas Strip. 

Still, there’s a season to be played, and Thursday could be perhaps the last homer opener in the 57-year history of Oakland Coliseum, with two fan groups planning an Opening Night protest between the Cleveland Guardians and A’s. 

Yet, no matter how few people bother going to A’s games this season, drawing fewer than 840,000 fans every year since 2019, scouts and talent evaluators will tell you the A’s could be better than envisioned. 

They may not be echoing the same refrain as A’s manager Mark Kotsay, who says that a .500 season is possible, but believe the A’s have an improved starting rotation, bullpen and lineup. 

“[Kotsay] had a really good first meeting and I really appreciate what he said,’’ veteran pitcher Ross Stripling said. “Forget last year. Last year sucked. We’re better now. This season is going to be better. We’re going to come to the field expecting to win every day.’’  

It starts with the culture, thanks in part to the three veterans they brought in from the San Francisco Giants, signing starter Alex Wood, 33, trading for Stripling, 34, and picking up third baseman J.D. Davis, 30, after being released. 

“Ultimately you want a group in the clubhouse that sets a culture of its own,’’ Kotsay says. “Obviously, it’s influenced my side as a manager to understand what that culture is and delivering it. These guys have been in successful winning clubhouses and understand what that means. 

“I want to set high expectations, and I think the confidence this group is carrying right now is great.’’ 

Certainly, the ex-Giants veterans aren’t planning to hold any postseason share meetings anytime soon, but they’ll tell they didn’t come over to Oakland to be punching bags, either. 

“No one’s moping,’’ Stripling said. “No one’s walking around thinking we’re not going to be competitive. If we stay healthy, I think we’ll compete. I don’t think we’ll roll over. 

“I just think there’s plenty of talent, there’s a lot of kids ready to take some steps forward. The pieces are there. It’s time to keep moving in the right direction.’’ 

The A’s realize the season will open with the constant questions of their future dancing in their heads. They know the franchise is moving to Las Vegas in 2028. They know their Coliseum lease expires after this season. They just don’t know where they’ll be spending the next three years. 

Will they stay at the Coliseum? Will they play at the Giants’ Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento? Their own Triple-A ballpark in Las Vegas? Share the Giants’ ballpark across the Bay? Salt Lake City? 

“It hasn’t been a distraction so far,’’ Stripling said. “Everyone’s trying to win the day, trying to make their name on the game, stay in the big leagues, and let that kind of stuff deal with itself. 

“I assume when [infielder Zack] Gelof goes and plays at Yankee Stadium, and he sees 40,000 people, he’s like, 'Man, this is awesome.’ Next year we might be in Sacramento, and I’m sure he’ll be like, 'I don’t feel like I’m a big leaguer, even though I deserved it.'’’ 

Says Wood: “Honestly, nobody knows more than the next guy. I’m sure once they get something definitive, and the move is official, we’ll probably know right before Twitter does.’’ 

Really, in many ways, Kotsay says, it should be easier to block out the noise. There’s no longer a question of whether the A’s are staying or going. The owners voted unanimously, approving a relocation to Las Vegas. It’s just a question of where they’ll be playing the next three years until their Vegas pad is ready. 

“I think dealing with the distractions last year has made it a little easier for the guys that went through it,’’ Kotsay says. “Some of the guys that went through it last year can communicate to the new guys what they’re going to go through when we get to Oakland will be helpful. 

“The distractions are still there, but I think the focus is more on baseball.’’ 

The A’s believe that it will be almost impossible to be as bad as a year ago. They lost 26 of their first 32 games, with the worst April record (5-23) than any team in any month since 1915. They were outscored by 339 runs, fourth-worst in history, and finished last in runs, batting average, slugging percentage, OPS and second-to-last in ERA and runs allowed. 

“They got their butt kicked last year,’’ Davis said, “but they’ve done a good job of getting right back up and working hard. I know their record doesn’t really show the talent they had on this team, but these guys are hungry.’’ 

If Wood, the A’s opening-day starter, didn’t believe in the organization, he wouldn’t have signed a one-year, $8.5 million free-agent contract. If Davis didn’t like the opportunity, he wouldn’t have let Wood and Stripling persuade him into coming across the Bay. If they didn’t like the vibe in camp, Stripling says, maybe the thought of potentially being traded this summer wouldn’t sting. 

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"I mean, logically, if we’re out of it, that’s a possibility,’’ Wood said. “It’s something that happens. But after you’ve been traded once, it’s a lot easier than if you’ve never been traded before.’’ 

Besides, if they’re traded by the July 30 deadline, it also means that they’ve been performing well enough to be desired by contenders. 

“We can sit here and talk about trade talks in that regard, but if I don’t perform,’’ Davis said, “then no team is going to have me. So, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to help this team win, help this team develop, share information, and just be a good teammate.’’ 

Who knows, maybe one day if the A’s become a legitimate contender, if they ever host postseason games on the Vegas Strip, this trio can look back and be proud they were on the ground floor of something special? 

You don’t have to look any further than the Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles and Arizona Diamondbacks to know that years of utter embarrassment can turn into glory. 

You never know what youth movements can bring, right? 

“I compare this to the Blue Jays team I got traded to in 2020 with young [Bo] Bichette, young Vlady [Guerrero], young Cavan [Biggio],’’ Stripling said. “They really had no other veterans on the position player side. It’s pretty similar to that, really. 

“When I sit down now and eat lunch, there’s like three dudes that come sit next to me and start peppering me with questions. Hey, if I was still a Dodger, I’d still be that guy following Clayton Kershaw around and shadowing him. 

“It’s fun to be on the other side of this.’’ 

Stripling looked around the clubhouse, momentarily closed his eyes, and knows that one day, after all of the pain this organization has endured, there will be good times. 

“Hopefully we can say one day we were there when it started,’’ Stripling said, “and helped get this thing turned around. That would be pretty cool.’’  

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