The A's Just Missed a Huge Historical Advantage, And It Changes Everything
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If it feels like the universe is against the Athletics these days, you may not be wrong. They went into Monday's game against the Atlanta Braves with an 0-3 record after being swept by the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, and striking out an MLB record 50 times in the opening series.
Well, history continues to not be on the A's side. After they fell to Atlanta, 4-0, on Monday, they fell to 0-4 on the season. No A's team in the franchise's history has made the postseason after starting out 0-4.
It also doesn't help that the A's will also be the last team in baseball to record a victory this season, after the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks all earned their first wins of the season on Monday.
To add insult to injury, the Rockies' 14-5 win came against the Blue Jays. Colorado won 43 games a year ago and conquered the Jays in one go.
Obviously none of this is necessarily good precedent for the A's as they still have 158 game left to go, but what makes it just a touch worse is that if they'd won on Monday, they would be following directly in the path of some of the best A's teams over the years.
Some A's teams that started 1-3 have fared extremely well
Over the A's 124-year history heading into this season, they have made the postseason 29 times and won nine World Series championships. There have been some lean years, primarily from 1932-1970, when the A's didn't make the limited postseason structure even one time. Outside of that span, the A's have tended to be fairly competitive.
In 1911, they started out 0-3, getting swept by the New York Highlanders, before winning their first game against the Boston Red Sox by a score of 1-0. That season, they went on to win the American League with a 101-50 record, ultimately wining their second World Series title in franchise history, and their second in a row after a win in 1910.
In 1914, they lost the first two of the season to New York again, then the third of the year against Boston, before getting that first win, 8-2, against Boston following an off-day. That put them at 1-3, and they went on to get swept in the World Series by the Boston Braves that season after finishing the year 99-53-6 and winning the AL once again.
A World Series win that season would have been their fourth championship in five seasons.
Fast forward to 1971, where they again started 0-3 after getting blown out 8-0 by the Washington Senators, and then 12-4 by the Chicago White Sox in two of those contests. They won their fourth game, 5-0, against the Kansas City Royals, and then proceeded to win 101 games on the year. They ended up in the ALCS, where they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in three games.
Just a couple of years later, in 1973, the A's had a slight World Series hangover and yet again found themselves in an 0-3 hole after being swept at home by the Minnesota Twins. They came out in the fourth game behind Vida Blue and destroyed the White Sox, 12-2. Of course, that team also went on to win the World Series—their second of three straight.
One reason why this may not matter
While baseball is a game that is built upon its history, there is one big change that has happened in recent years that may make the A's own history meaningless when it comes to whether or not they'll make the postseason in 2026.
That tweak is that now there are six postseason teams in each league, so even if the A's aren't the best team in the AL when the regular season is over, they'll still have a shot at a wild-card spot. They also may not need 90+ wins to get that berth.
That said, the A's started 0-6 in 2021, and they ended up winning 86 games overall. There were only two Wild Card teams that year, but even with the three we have today the A's would have been on the outside looking in. The Seattle Mariners finished at 90-72, and the Toronto Blue Jays were at 91-71.
The A's offense is what will carry them as far as they're going to go this season, and thus far they haven't been doing much. Outside of their seven-run outburst on Saturday, they've been held to two runs twice and shut out once.
When the bats get going, that is when the A's could start rattling off a slew of wins in a row. But if history is any indicator, it may already be too late.
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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