Ian Miller
Videos by OutKick
It’s been a rough couple weeks for Oakland A’s fans.
The A’s started the 2023 season with low expectations for on-field success, and have somehow still managed to underperform.
As of Thursday afternoon, Oakland is just 6-25. But even that understates just how awful the A’s have been.
- Their .194 winning percentage corresponds to a 31-131 regular season.
- They’ve been out scored by 123 runs, meaning they’re losing games by an average of nearly four runs per game.
- A’s pitching has allowed an average of 7.7 runs per game, a pace that would near all-time single season records
- Tampa Bay, having one of the best starts to a season in MLB history, has a Baseball-Reference rating of 3.3, meaning they’d be expected to beat an average team by 3.3 runs. Oakland is -3.5, meaning they’re worse than the Rays are good
By every objective measurement, the 2023 Oakland A’s are an embarrassment.
And that’s just the start of their problems.
After years of negotiations and threats, the organization announced recently they’d purchased land in Las Vegas to build a new stadium.
READ: OAKLAND A’S REACH AGREEMENT TO BUY LAND IN LAS VEGAS
Understandably, that’s angered local fans. And that anger boiled over during a recent home game.
“SELL THE TEAM!” #Athletics pic.twitter.com/MZEkeRMGha
— Dr. Meredith Wills (@Bbl_Astrophyscs) April 29, 2023
Do The Oakland A’s Have A Future?
It’s easy to empathize with Oakland fans.
Despite having a billionaire owner, the team has put little to no money into the product on the field. Or improving the off-field product.
While the A’s have been in contention in recent years, fans have been conditioned to expect star players to be traded or let go to save money.
And the clear lack of interest in financing a stadium privately combined with obvious ownership disinterest has led to disaster.
It’s obvious that the situation in Oakland can’t continue like this, but the billion dollar question is how to fix it.
Were new ownership to come in, commit to building a new stadium in the East Bay and invest in the team, there’s no reason the A’s couldn’t turn the ship around.
But that seems incredibly unlikely. Moving the team to Vegas should be incredibly profitable for owner John Fisher.
He’ll likely be getting huge sums of public money to finance his private business, making the team a bigger money maker than it already is.
Why sell when you can make more money by staying?
As bad as the team is, as bad as the stadium is, given there’ll be at least one more season in Oakland, fan support could just get even worse.
Since relocating [ahem] from KC in 1968, the A’s have the sixth best winning percentage in all of baseball.
In the 21st Century, they have the ninth best.
And yet they draw among the bottom five in attendance and their facility is twenty years past its useful life.
Of course ownership has thrown in the towel on winning there. Of course someone else came along with a better offer. Of course they are gonna take it and relocate this franchise for the third time [Philly, KC, Oakland, Vegas].
There is nothing new under the sun.
The ‘fans’ have no one to blame but themselves…just as with the Warriors…just as with the Raiders.