Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics are one of the teams competing in Major League Baseball (MLB). This team is notable for participating in the Western Division of the American League of the MLB.

The Oakland Athletics were originally founded as the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901. Later it relocated to Oakland, California, United States and renamed themselves as the Oakland Athletics. This team has won nine World Series Championships, 15 AL pennants and 17 West Division titles for themselves. They are considered the second in achievements after the New York Yankees in the American League (AL). The team has had great baseball players playing for them throughout the years.

Despite not being able to achieve its previous levels of success in present times, the people of Oakland still love and cheer for the team during their games.

Oakland Athletics History

The Oakland Athletics baseball team started their career as the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901. With that name, the team was World Series Champions five times. Then the team relocated to Kansas City in 1955 and the team remained there till 1967. Later on, the team arrived in Oakland in 1968 and became known as the Oakland Athletics.

The team in its initial stages was very powerful and comprised some of the most talented baseball players of the times. This led them to become the World Series Champions for three consecutive years in 1972, 1973 and 1974. Unfortunately from 1975 season onwards, the Oakland Athletics slumped as a team and it would take them several years to rebuild and improve themselves. This culminated in the team again becoming the World Series Champions in 1929.

With the arrival of “Moneyball” Billy Beane to the team, the Oakland Athletics again saw an improvement in their performance. A major reason for this was that their team started recruiting players based on OBP for hitters and strikeout rates for the pitchers. Consequently, there was improvement in the performance of the team despite keeping the players on a low payroll. The Oakland Athletics established a record of winning 20 games in a row in the American League (AL) from August to September 2002.

The Oakland Athletics came back to the playoffs in the 2006 season. This was followed by a bad season in 2007 for the team.

In 2014, the Oakland Athletics started out with a good season mainly due to players like Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. They also made it to the playoffs in this season where they ultimately lost to the Kansas City Royals.

In the present times, the Oakland Athletics have not been able to get back their glory years yet. This mainly resulted from the fact that they allowed most of their players free agency which proved to be disadvantageous for the team. Furthermore, they had the worst season in 2022. The team has been planning on relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada, United States in 2023.

Oakland Athletics Owner

The Oakland Athletics team is owned by John Joseph Fisher, a businessman from America. Born on June 1, 1960 in San Francisco, California, United States, he started out his career in real estate business.

John Fisher came into ownership of the Oakland Athletics team in 2016. However, he has entered into controversy due to his plans of relocating the team to Las Vegas. In 2023, he started planning a new baseball stadium in Las Vegas and planned to take the Oakland Athletics there and end their time in Oakland. Unfortunately for them, the fans have not responded well to such a plan.

There has been backlash against John Fisher with many fans claiming that he isn’t really a sports fan and just likes to make profit. The fans have also urged Fisher to sell the team so that someone caring about the team can purchase it and the team stays in Oakland.

In his personal life, John Fisher is Jewish and lives in San Francisco, California with his wife.

Oakland Athletics Jersey and Logo

The Oakland Athletics team have designed their own home and road jerseys to represent their team. Their current home jersey consists of white buttoned shirts and pants. There is a Nike logo in green on the upper left side of the jersey. Below this the word “Athletics” appears in green with yellow outline with an underline below it across the chest of the jersey. The jersey number of the player is done in green and yellow highlights on the bottom right of the jersey. The back of the jersey also features the player name in green and yellow with the jersey number below it. The team’s logo is two circles. The innermost circle has A’s written in green and yellow in a white background. It also has yellow highlights. The first circle is colored green and yellow. The words “Oakland Athletics” are written inside this circle in white. This logo is placed on one sleeve of the jersey. The other sleeve usually has an advertisement or the symbol of the elephant on baseball in green and yellow. The caps and helmets are green and yellow in color with the word “A’s” appearing in white in front.

The road jersey for the Oakland Athletics is gray colored buttoned down shirts and pants. As usual there is a green colored Nike logo on the upper left side of the jersey. Below this, the name of the city “Oakland” appears in green and yellow across the chest of the jersey with an underline below it. Just like the home jersey, the player number appears below the right side of the city name in green and yellow. The back of the jersey also has the player name and jersey number in green and yellow. The logos and the elephant symbols are the same and appear on either side of the sleeves.The caps and the helmets are also green and yellow colored with the white “A’s “ in front of them.

Oakland Athletics Nicknames

The Oakland Athletics team has also received several nicknames from its inception till the present day. These are the terms that the fans use to describe the team as.

• Mackmen - This nickname goes back to the time when the team was called Philadelphia Athletics. It was given after then manager Connie Mack.

• The A’s - This nickname is a shorter version of the team’s name “Athletics”. It is one of the most common nicknames of the team.

• The Green and the Gold - This nickname is used to refer to the jersey color of the team.

• The Swingin A’s - This nickname was used to refer to the teams that became the World Series Champions during the 1970s.

• The White Elephants and The Elephants - The first nickname refers to the mascot of the team according to the comments of John McGraw. The second nickname is just a shorter version of the first nickname.

• The Oakland Triple-A’s - This nickname was used to refer to the earlier years of the team when they had poor performance in games.

Oakland Athletics Retired Jerseys

The Oakland Athletics, like all the other teams in MLB, has also retired several jerseys of its former players. These are all the retired jerseys of the team.

Source:- mlb.com

Oakland Athletics Home Stadium

The home stadium for the Oakland Athletics is the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, also known as Oakland Coliseum. The stadium can support around 46, 847(expandable to 56,782) spectators for baseball games. The left field is 330 feet while the left corner is 388 feet. The center field is 400 feet. The right field is 330 feet and the right center is 388 feet. The backstop is 60 feet. The surface of the field is made up of Tifway II Bermuda Grass.

One of the features of this stadium is the Treehouse. This is a place where the fans relax and connect with each other. It has two bars, a TV on the wall, standing and lounge seating facility. Pre and post game entertainments are also held here. The second feature of the stadium is The A’s Stomping Ground. Here, kids can have fun and entertainment while the adults are watching the games. The Shibe Park Tavern is another feature of the stadium. This is a new and improved food and beverage area.

Other than baseball, the stadium has also been used for music concerts by artists like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Guns N’Roses, Green Day and others. It has also been home to several international soccer matches. There was also a Monster Jam event in 2008 and an AMA Supercross Championship round in this stadium in 2011.

Oakland Athletics Tickets and Broadcasting Details

Like in the case of most of the MLB teams, SeatGeek is the ideal place for purchasing tickets for the games of the Oakland Athletics. The tickets are very cheap with prices starting from $1 and going higher up as per the requirement of the spectators and the games.

For TV, NBC Sports California is the exclusive partner for watching the games of the Oakland Athletics. The broadcasters include Glen Kuiper and Dallas Braden.

For radio all the action can be heard on the A’s Radio Network and A’s cast with broadcasters Ken Korach and Vince Cotroneo.

Furthermore, MLB.TV will be available for streaming the games in out of market areas. The fans need to purchase an Oakland Athletics single team subscription pan for $19.99 per month.

Oakland Athletics Coaching Staff

The Oakland Athletics team wants to achieve its former glory. For this, they have brought in several coaching personnel to help and improve the players. These are the coaching staff with such responsibilities.

Source:- mlb.com

Oakland Athletics Rivalry

The Oakland Athletics have major rivalries with the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Angels.

Rivalry of the Athletics and the Giants

The rivalry between these two teams is called the Bay Bridge Series. This is because of the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge that connects the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. These teams have maintained a competitive but friendly rivalry with each other. Since 2018, the winner among these two teams is awarded with the Bay Bridge trophy, which is made up of steel from the old Bay Bridge. Till now, both these teams have faced each other for a total of 164 games including regular season and postseason. The Oakland Athletics are leading the San Francisco Giants with a score of 87-77. They also have a 2-game winning streak against the San Francisco Giants.

Rivalry of the Athletics and the Angels

The rivalry between these two teams started ever since the Oakland Athletics relocated to California. The “Moneyball” tactics of the Athletics led them to win a 20 game winning streak against the Angels. However, the Angels bounced back and defeated the Athletics in the 2004 season. Although both the teams have faced each other for 1016 times till now, all of them have been regular season. Again, the Athletics have been leading the Angels with a score of 527-479. Nevertheless, they are yet to meet each other in the postseason.

Apart from these two rivals, the Oakland Athletics also had a rivalry with the Philadelphia Phillies when they were based in Philadelphia and were known as Philadelphia Athletics.

Oakland Athletics MLB Records and Stats

These are all the all-time records and stats achieved by the Oakland Athletics as a team.

• All-time high record in scoring home runs - 12,274

• All-time high record in runs scored - 78,542

• All-time high record in batting average - .259

• All-time high record in ERA - 3.97

• All-time high record in allowing opponents to score runs - 78,542

• All-time high record in stolen bases - 341

• All-time high record in scoring strikeouts - 1226

• All-time high record in shutouts - 27

• All-time high record in scoring singles - 174

• All-time high record in scoring doubles - 53

• All-time high record in scoring triples - 21

Oakland Athletics World Series Championships

The Oakland Athletics have won the World Series Championships nine times. These are the opponents that they have beaten to achieve the championship.

Oakland Athletics Other MLB Titles

Besides winning the World Series Championships, the Oakland Athletics have also won many other MLB titles till now. These are all their achievements till now.

Oakland Athletics Hall of Famers

Over the years, the Oakland Athletics have inducted several members into its Hall of Fame. These are the Hall of Famers of the team.

Source:- mlb.com

Current Oakland Athletics Roster MLB 2023

These are currently the active players on the Oakland Athletics roster.

Source:- mlb.com

Oakland Athletics Schedule

The Oakland Athletics only have a few more games left to play in the 2023 season. These are their opponents in the season.

Source:- mlb.com