Head Down and All Wet; A Strange Season of Baseball for Athletics' Jake Diekman

In the midst of the best season of his career and with a chance to go deep into the postseason, Oakland Athletics reliever Jake Diekman is focused on the immediate future for a team that he sees as being highly motivated. At the same time, baseball in the time of pandemic has given him a glimpse of retirement, whenever that should come.

On Saturday afternoon, Jake Diekman threw a scoreless inning against the Giants as the Oakland A’s pulled to within one win of the American League West Division title.

It wasn’t the takeaway he’ll most remember from Sept. 19, 2020.

It was a little glimpse of retirement for the 33-year-old left-handed reliever, who spent part of Sunday morning talking about how personally fulfilling he’s found a baseball season twisted inside out by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“I have a 2-year-old daughter; she’s going to be 2 very soon,” Diekman said Sunday in a video conference call. “So, having road trips sucks, being away from home. IT’s really fun watching her grow up.

“Yesterday, the second I got home, they were in the pool. So, I just walked in the pool with my clothes. It’s kind of a little glimpse of retirement, because you can’t go out and do anything. So, like you’re just stuck at home. But it’s been a blessing more than a curse.”

Retirement isn’t on the Diekman agenda. The A’s have a chance Sunday to lock down the American League West title with a win over the San Francisco Giants. Should the Giants win today, it would be no surprise for Diekman to be part of it. He’s pitched in 18 games, a total of 18.1 innings, and hasn’t allowed a run. More than that, the A’s are 17-1 in games in which he’s appeared.

“Today is a big game,” Diekman said. “I feel like everyone would always rather win the division with a win. So, if we win the division today, I feel that we can have a happy off-day tomorrow.”

Diekman has been in the postseason three times, twice with the Rangers in 2015-16 and in 2019 with the A’s. In each instance, his teams didn’t get very far. Last year, it was one-and-done in the American League Wild Card. With the Rangers, it was being ousted in the AL Division Series.

For 2020, Diekman sees a different script. That’s why he sees the celebration of a West title likely to be a bit on the muted side.

“We know we’re a team that can go very deep in the postseason,” the left-hander said. “We’ll celebrate, but we’ve seen in the last week that if there is stuff we need to work on, to get better at or just stay focused on for the last week, BoMel (manager Bob Melvin) will get us that way.”

A year ago at this time, the A’s were locking down a Wild Card berth. Winning the division title this year won’t bring an automatic pass into the Division Series as it did last year. Still, Diekman said there are some other substantial differences between now and 52 weeks ago. He says this year’s team has a more heads-down approach.

“Like, we know that we’re this good,” he said. I don’t fee like if we lose a game, were not in a full panic mode. We’re just like, head down for the next day. We know we still have a chance to win two out of three, three out of four or whatever it is. I feel like we might be a little more driven with this head-down, back-to-business, play the game, and if we lose or win that day, we will be just fine.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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