The early MLB season got off to quite a rocky start for the artist formerly known as the Oakland Athletics. The temporary West Sacramento residents opened up the campaign with four consecutive losses. Two of those came in walk-off fashion, the first two games of the season north of the border against the reigning American League champs. A three-game sweep at the hands of the Blue Jays, coupled with losing two of the next three to the Atlanta Braves, had the boys in green and gold immediately staring at a 1-5 record. This resulted in many people around baseball eagerly preparing to write them off as the same old A’s.

Luckily for the fans, the team showed tremendous pride in its first home series of the season. They took two out of three from their division rival, the Houston Astros, which was capped off by a walk-off three-run homer from Brent Rooker in the rubber match. The much-needed momentum boost demonstrated that the A’s are capable of competing with and, critically, defeating top teams in baseball.

With back-to-back series on the road in New York against the Yankees and the Mets next on the docket, the schedule doesn’t get any easier. That being said, nobody feels sorry for them. If they want to be treated like a contender, they have to show they belong, and this is another opportunity to do so.

They Know Their Identity

The main issue for many teams across all sports is that they lack an identity. Especially with young teams, like the one the A’s have, it can be a struggle for the players to figure out who they are as big leaguers. Luckily for this iteration of the squad, most of the guys are aware of what’s expected of them for the team to succeed as a whole.

The team’s identity was perfectly illustrated in this past Sunday’s thrilling win over the Astros. The Athletics know they are going to have to slug their way to victory most of the time, and they are perfectly content with that. They saw 5-3 and then 9-5 leads disappear quickly during the game, yet there was no panic at any point. The strength of the team is unquestionably the offense. Every player and coach in that clubhouse knows that if the pitching and defense can keep things respectable, more often than not, the bats will be able to pick up the slack.

Manager Mark Kotsay knows that he has a youthful, incredibly talented group of players who expect a lot from themselves. The challenge will be keeping them from getting overly frustrated during the inevitable rough patches that come with the territory of a 162-game season.

Get Stronger As The Year Continues

While players like Shea Langeliers and Max Muncy have come out of the gates on fire at the plate, most hitters take a little while to get things going at the start of the season. Perhaps nobody on the A’s has struggled more than reigning AL Rookie of the Year, Nick Kurtz. Through nine games, the 23-year-old is batting .148 and has yet to accumulate a home run or RBI, which nobody would have guessed would be the case.

That being said, Kurtz has still been putting great at-bats on display, as he has drawn nine walks thus far and sports a .361 on-base percentage. It also seems like he is starting to figure things out with his swing, as he had multiple hard-hit outs this past series and went 2-3 with a ground-rule double and three walks in the finale. Kurtz is not the only one on the team who hasn’t hit the ground running, but if there’s anyone to legitimately worry about, it certainly isn’t him.

The one area where some concern would be reasonable is the bullpen. With a lot of unproven arms and nobody cemented in their roles, it was expected that there would be some growing pains early on. The bullpen ERA so far sits at 4.99, which, to be polite, is not great.

Luckily, the A’s have been down this road before, more specifically, last season. Throughout the first half, the pitching as a whole, but in particular, the bullpen, was awful. As the year progressed, however, pitchers tinkered with things, roles became solidified, and what was once a major weakness became a strength. Fans will need to trust longtime pitching coach Scott Emerson to push the right buttons and get the most out of the guys he has to work with.

Historically, the Athletics have usually been a team that raises its level of play as the year progresses. Last season, they had a record of 22-20 as of May 13th, and it seemed like the playoffs could be a legitimate possibility at the quarter-season mark. The team would then proceed to go on to win an unprecedented one of their next 21 games, and derail their playoff hopes for good.

Amazingly, the A’s did not give up after that landslide and went 35-29 post-All-Star break and finished with a respectable 76-86 record. Despite the strong end to the season, the question remains what could have been had that 1-20 stretch been turned into just a 10-11 stretch. That painful “what if?” can hopefully be used as a learning experience this year. If they can avoid a disastrous run of games like that this season, and just hover around .500 through the All-Star break, history says they have a good chance of being in playoff contention come October.

Early MLB Season Is Fun For Everyone!

Often forgotten in the midst of a 162-game season, by the time the end is reached, is that wondrous period of time when the season has just begun, and anything is possible. It’s a clean slate for every team, and no matter how bleak the outlook is, every fan has the right to be as delusional as their heart desires. There are even young aspiring sports writers putting articles out there about much-maligned teams making improbable playoff runs. It’s a crazy time!

A word of advice to fellow baseball fans would be to cherish this time. From personal experience, an MLB season can get really depressing really fast while following a rebuilding team. Enjoy the blissful ignorance of April and don’t take this portion of the schedule for granted!