This is one of our nontraditional 2018 MLB postseason previews. To see the full slate, head to our preview page.
Twitter鈥檚 a weird place. Before it became an arena for berating strangers, pleas to call your senators, or Kanye鈥檚 unhinged stream of consciousness, it was mostly a sandbox for people trying out jokes. This is one of the most popular jokes of a far more innocent time, one that still resonates to this day.
[whispering to date while watching Chappie when Chappie first appears on the screen] That's Chappie
— vineyille (@vineyille)
You either find this hilarious or you don鈥檛. I鈥檓 in the former camp, but I don鈥檛 blame you if you鈥檙e not. The more you think about it, the less sense it makes. Anyway, let鈥檚 talk about the Oakland A鈥檚.
Very little about the A鈥檚 and their success in 2018 makes any sense to most anyone who knows anything about baseball. In fact, the more you understand the game, the less their astonishing run 鈥� sitting at 34-36 through mid-June, then going 63-29 the rest of the way 鈥� computes.
Starting pitching is supposed to be the bedrock of a contending team. Just .
The other four AL playoff teams are all in the top six teams in baseball; the A鈥檚 are 20th. Even the Moneyball era A鈥檚 were built largely on the foundation of a sterling front of the rotation, with perennial Cy Young candidates Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito each averaging between 16-18 wins with a combined 3.18 ERA (710 ER/2,102 IP) between 2001-03.
These A鈥檚 look nothing like those. Well, except the home runs 鈥� we鈥檒l get to that in a minute. But the rotation looks like what would happen if you鈥檇 mastered a video game so thoroughly on the hardest setting that you just traded everyone away and tried to win with only whatever minor league free agents were programmed into the game. Look, there鈥檚 Trevor Cahill making 20 starts for the first time since 2013. Hey, it鈥檚 Edwin Jackson, playing for his record 13th different MLB team after spending the first two months of the year at Triple-A Syracuse. This appears to be 鈥淔rankie Montas,鈥� most likely a computer generated player name without an actual headshot. The only pitchers remaining on the postseason roster with more than seven wins in an A鈥檚 uniform this year are relievers.
All right, let鈥檚 talk dingers. One player in baseball has hit more than 125 home runs over the past three seasons. It鈥檚 not Nelson Cruz. It鈥檚 not Giancarlo Stanton. It鈥檚 Khris Davis 鈥� with 133 鈥� who is producing at the rate you鈥檇 expect from Chris Davis鈥� contract, at the cost of Matt Wieters. He鈥檚 got true power to every field, and has hit an .
Speaking of even distribution, Davis just hit . He also , and it doesn鈥檛 matter. Nothing matters. Don鈥檛 ask too many questions.
There鈥檚 a stat called isolated power (ISO), which uses a player鈥檚 extra-base hits to help measure raw power and value, as extra-base hits are far more valuable than singles. League average ISO is around .140. Davis is above .300. But perhaps more impressively, 12 players are at .140 or above, six of them at .200 or above. Five A鈥檚 have at least 23 home runs, and the team as a whole has 227, the fifth-most in Oakland history. But they鈥檝e also totaled 569 extra-base hits, the most ever in Athletics history; more than the Moneyball teams; more than the Bash Brothers teams; more than the threepeating, Swingin鈥� A鈥檚 of the early 70s.
They also won more games than any team in the National League, even the ones that got a 163rd game. Yep 鈥� the A鈥檚 have been so good that if, somehow, they survive the American League gauntlet to make the World Series for the first time since 1990, no matter who they play, they will have home field advantage.
As , this team can mash. The only question was whether the pitching would hold them back. Instead, the A鈥檚 discovered a salvation in an incredible, ever-growing set of bullpen arms, and an increased willingness to use them whenever and wherever necessary.
Nats fans will find an unrecognizable, cyborg model of Blake Treinen, who has harnessed his divebombing, 98-mile-per-hour sinker into one of the most unhittable pitches in baseball.
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1025726872347463682
Treinen just posted the lowest ERA (0.78) in the history of baseball for any pitcher to throw at least 75 innings, and will be garnering Cy Young votes this year. He leads a bullpen full of young flamethrowers you鈥檝e never heard of like Lou Trivino (8-3, 2.92 ERA, 10 K/9 IP) alongside former closers Fernando Rodney and Jeurys Familia. The A鈥檚 posted the third-lowest ERA of any bullpen in the bigs. Their job is to keep things close enough for the zombie lineup, which is never dead until the last out.
The have overcome deficits of four or more runs to win eight times this year (eight runs once, six runs once, five runs twice and four runs four times), which are the most such wins in one season by an A鈥檚 team since the 1949 Philadelphia A鈥檚 also had eight.
— Mike Selleck (@MikeSelleck)
OK, let鈥檚 get back to Chappie. There鈥檚 a reason I used that particular absurd tweet of all the available absurd tweets on America鈥檚 second-favorite outrage social network (don鈥檛 worry, Facebook, you鈥檙e still the champ!). The team鈥檚 best player, one of the best players in baseball, is fresh-faced, 25-year-old third baseman Matt Chapman. He鈥檚 a powerful hitter with a keen eye who is actually posting a higher wRC+ than Davis. But it鈥檚 his defense that sets him apart 鈥� by most accounts, he plays the best defense at the hot corner in a golden generation of third basemen. He does stuff like this.
Matt Chapman glove status: GOLD
— Oakland A's (@Athletics)
And this.
https://twitter.com/athleticsBrasil/status/1024522380662775808
That’s Chappy 鈥斅� (yes, spelled slightly differently, but pronounced the same). It , rather than trying to avoid the association, embracing the bizarre and nonsensical season that has led to Wednesday鈥檚 AL Wild Card Game in the Bronx. Appreciating just what the A鈥檚 have done this year requires looking at everything you thought you knew about baseball through a kaleidoscopic lens, revealing our ever-unraveling world, of the absurdity of it all.
Sure, Oakland鈥檚 postseason will probably only last nine innings, or however long Wednesday鈥檚 contest goes. It feels silly to ask anything of a team that has already given so much more than it had any business doing. Then again, they鈥檙e not supposed to be here at all. Might as well celebrate as long as it lasts.
https://twitter.com/BenRossSports/status/1044462129938452480
Boston Red Sox | Cleveland Indians | Houston Astros | NY Yankees | Oakland Athletics
Atlanta Braves | Chicago Cubs | Colorado Rockies | LA Dodgers | Milwaukee Brewers
