Again, a power outburst by both teams. Again, the heavily favored team, the likable team in the series jumped out to an early, promising lead. And again, much to the dismay of the baseball world outside of Houston, the underdog, inexperienced bullpen came through to win. This time the Oakland Athletics dug themselves too much of a hole to comeback from. The Houston Astros emerged victorious 11-6 over the A’s, to advance to the American League Championship Series. Here are key takeaways from the final game of the series.
How Did The Astros Bats Suddenly Start Hitting? How Was Did Their Pitching Get That good?
At this time last year, the Astros were seen as a well-respected powerhouse, considered the team to beat. Wow times can change, as we have seen with everything throughout the year. Who would have thought they would be going into a division series as the hated underdog, which is exactly how they entered this series. The Astros bats which were lackluster in comparison to past seasons, were relentless to the opposition, particularly in the middle innings. Players like Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman who had quiet regular seasons, exploded in the series. Everyone knew the Astros bats had it in them but what people didn’t know was just how good the Astros bullpen is. Depleted by injuries and filled with inexperienced rookies, the Astros bullpen shutdown the A’s bats late in games, with the exception of the game three comeback. Maybe age or experience in players is not the biggest factor after all in the postseason. Well, when it comes to managing it might be. It certainly helps that the team has one of baseball’s most experienced skippers in Dusty Baker.
Record Setting Series
To say this series was a slugfest would be an understatement. 15 different players homered for both teams and the two clubs combined for 24 total home runs, the most all time in a division series. Keep in mind too, this series did not go a full five games. The A’s and Astros each broke individual team home run records by hitting 12 each. How did the ball carry so much in the Dodgers stadium sun? Did the Santa Ana winds know the right time to blow in over Chavez Ravine? With its large outfield dimensions Dodgers stadium is not known for fly balls carrying. Also, neither team really put on huge displays of power in the regular season. The MLB postseason is always full of excitement and unexpectedness. This series was no exception. The A’s and Astros entertained TV viewers with the longball like never seen before in a division series.
What Went Wrong For The A’s?
The bullpen and pitching just fell apart, somewhat unexpectedly. Everything that went right in the regular season, did not go right in the series. The A’s dominated the Astros in the regular season, going 7-3 against them. They were the clear favorites going into this series. But after what the Astros did against a strong Minnesota Twins team in the Wildcard round, nothing could be taken lightly. It looked like everything was coming together for the A’s. The home run ball, which was one of their bigger missing pieces in the regular season, had no problem in this series.
However, the pieces that were not missing in the regular season, were missing in this series. That really came back to bite them starting with their bullpen collapses late in the games. While their starting pitchers gave up the initial Astros rallies, the bullpen really made the games fall out of hand. This is a bullpen too that had the lowest bullpen ERA in the regular season. A couple of small errors ended up having an immense impact, starting with a Marcus Semien mishandled ground ball with two outs and the bases empty in game one. This error led to an Astros explosion of six runs, which ultimately won them the first game. The A’s were a team that limited defensive mistakes throughout the regular season. While the A’s offense was able to put across runs in this series, they were only really able to do so with the longball. This is a stark contrast from how they manufactured runs in the regular season. In the regular season they did so with a mix of some power, but mostly smart baserunning and small ball. It’s like the A’s lost their authentic regular season identity in the division series.
What Will The Future Hold For The A’s Players? Management?
Never has this question been more uncertain. While the A’s have a young, talented core down the line, the future of anything in this world is more uncertain than ever. We have no idea if and when next season’s opening day will truly happen, and when fans can get back out to the ballpark. While the A’s did finally get past the first round of the playoffs, the season did not end to their full satisfaction. The A’s are still looking to make that next postseason step of getting to the World Series. This is something they haven’t achieved since 1990 despite making the playoffs 11 times in the past 20 years. The A’s will have critical offseason decisions to make around the future of some of their big impactful players including Semien, second basemen Tommy La Stella, and closer Liam Hendriks, who are all set to hit free agency.. This will be the most interesting free agent signing offseason in baseball history.
With no start time in sight for next season, and teams lacking spending money due to no attendance this season, the buyers on the free agent market have never looked more uncertain. With the A’s small payroll they have struggled over the years to maintain star players in the long term. But with more teams likely hesitant to spend this offseason, the A’s might have a golden opportunity to maintain some of these valuable parts. Will keeping all these players be the best move if they want to move forward in the postseason.
Another big question is if the A’s will maintain their longtime management. The aforementioned consistent playoff appearances without a title have happened under the helm of current executive vice president Billy Beane and manager Bob Melvin. These two names will be the big talk among fans in the offseason. Is it time to move on, or has the teams’ regular season success and tight-knit unit of players earned their management more years?
