They say history has a way of repeating itself. The Oakland A’s regrettably would agree with you. For the second consecutive season the A’s were eliminated from the postseason by the Detroit Tigers.
The A’s were haunted by many of the same problems that plagued them last year; namely Tigers ace Justin Verlander who dominated the A’s in his two starts, much as he did last season. The righthander has not surrendered a single run to the A’s in thirty innings.
In game 2 of the American League Division Series (ALDS) the A’s were unable to get anything going offensively against Verlander (they later won in extra innings).
In the deciding game 5, Verlander threw 8 innings of shutout baseball with 10 strikeouts. The Oakland offense was unable to do anything against Detroit’s top pitchers Verlander and Max Scherzer. The A’s hitters set a ALDS record with 57 strikeouts in a 5 best-of-five series.
In both postseason meetings with the Tigers, the A’s had a single game that really haunted them. In 2012, Oakland dropped game 2 of the series, a game in which they led most of the game and squandered the lead twice. Not to be outdone, the 2013 A’s dropped game 4 of the series and squandered the lead three times. Winning game 4 would have clinched a series win for the A’s and they would have avoided seeing Verlander for a second time.
There were some positives for the young Athletics squad, however.
The A’s continue to prove that a small market team can compete with some of the most expensive teams in baseball. The yearly salaries of Tigers Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera, and Verlander (roughly 60 million) surpass the salaries of the entire Athletics team (roughly 56 million).
The ALDS also became somewhat of a “coming out party” for Oakland’s 23 year old righthander Sonny Gray. In game 2 of the series Gray outdueled Verlander with 8 dominant innings.
Oakland also refused to back down from the team that many predicted to dominate them. A’s closer Grant Balfour and Tigers designated hitter Victor Martinez took part in a heated exchange which included a good deal of foul language. Both teams spilled onto the field to break up the argument between the two players.
Unfortunately the A’s continue to search for the championship that has evaded them since 1989. The A’s will have five months to prepare to make another run at a championship in 2014.