CLEVELAND GUARDIANS NOTES:
OAKLAND ATHLETICS NOTES:
ABOUT THE A’S: Have lost three straight after winning on Opening Day… dropped two of three to the Angels to start the season, which marks the 12th time in the last 13 years the A’s have lost the first series of the season…have lost the first two series of the season just once over the previous 11 years (2021)…this is the A’s 56th season in Oakland where the A’s have won 17 American League West titles, four AL Wild Cards, six AL pennants and four World Championships…only the Atlanta Braves (22), New York Yankees (20) and Los Angeles Dodgers (20) have more division titles than the A’s…since the A’s moved to Oakland in 1968, only the Yankees (11), Cardinals (8) and Dodgers (8) have more league championships and only the Yankees have more world championships (7)…have a 4495-4182 (.518) record over the previous 55 seasons in Oakland…only four teams have won more games over that span (New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston, St. Louis)…this is the Athletics franchise 123rd season in the American League…since 1901, the A’s have 17 AL West titles plus 15 AL pennants and nine World Championships…only the Yankees (27) and Cardinals (11) have won more World Championships…the A’s are 9210- 9654 (.488) in their previous 122 seasons…that includes a 3886-4248 record from 1901-54 in Philadelphia and 829-1224 from 1955-67 in Kansas City.
HOME AND AWAY: The A’s are 1-3 on this season-opening six-game homestand against Los Angeles-AL (1-2) and Cleveland (0-1)…went 29-51 (.362)
at home last year, which set an Oakland record for lowest home winning percentage…had the second worst home record in the majors to Washington (26-55, .321)…leave following the game tomorrow for the first road trip of the season, a seven-game trip to Tampa Bay (three games) and Baltimore (four games) that begins on Friday…went 31-51 (.378) on the road in 2022, which was the third worst road record in the American League.
THIS AND THAT: The A’s scored 11 runs last night and lost, which marks the first time Oakland scored at least 11 runs in a game and did not win since May 5, 2000 when they dropped a 17-16 decision at Texas…it was the 12th time in Oakland history the A’s tallied at least 11 runs in loss… had scored just three runs over the first three games and now have 14 runs scored, which is third fewest in the American League…had 14 hits last night after collecting 16 over the first three games and also have the third fewest hits in the AL (30)…have grounded into a double play in each of the first four games and lead the AL with six overall…led the majors in grounded into double plays during the spring (32)…have committed an error in each of the first four games, which matches the longest season-opening streak by an A’s team over the last 47 years (also 2011 and 2015)…have five errors for the season, which is second most in the AL to Baltimore (6)…the pitching staff leads the AL in runs allowed (32), but four of the runs are unearned and the A’s 6.81 ERA is third highest…have a wild pitch in each of the first four games and have five overall, which is second most in the AL to Cleveland (6)…led the majors with 36 wild pitches this spring…the A’s are the only team in the majors that has yet to score first in a game.
DURING THE SPRING: The A’s went 11-17-3 (.355) this spring, which was the worst record in the Cactus League and third worst in the majors ahead of Pittsburgh (9-18-4) and Miami (7-16-4)…it was the fifth lowest spring winning percentage in Oakland history…went 5-10-3 last spring and have back-to-back losing springs for the first time since 2016-18 when they had three straight…the A’s led majors in on-base percentage (.367), walks (153), hit by pitches (26) and lowest strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.83)…the walks were second most by an A’s team during the spring since 1990, the earliest year spring stats are available (had 154 in 1997)…the hit by pitches were the most since 2009 (28) and the on-base percentage was the best since 2013 (.367)…tied for second in the CL in triples (9), ranked fourth in OPS (.783) and plate appearances per strikeout (4.45) and tied for fourth in runs (171) and doubles (64)…had the most grounded into double plays in the majors (32)…had the second fewest home runs in the CL (27) and the fifth lowest slugging percentage (.416)…the pitching staff had the highest ERA (6.35), opponents OPS (.849) and on-base percentage (.385) in the majors, the third highest batting average (.283) and fifth highest slugging percentage (.465)…the ERA was the highest by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990 (previous: 6.22 in 1999)…also led the majors in runs (209), walks (171) and wild pitches (36)…the walks are the most by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990…tied for the second most home runs allowed in the CL (40)…were one of two teams in the majors without a balk (Cardinals)…the A’s defense had the fourth fewest errors in the CL (23) and tied for fifth in outfield assists (4)… had the most passed balls (7).
THE RULE CHANGES: The A’s stole 40 bases this spring, which was third most in the Cactus League…it was the most by an A’s team during the spring since at least 1990 (previous: 39 with the 1995 replacement players)…tied for the fourth fewest caught stealings (6) and had the fifth best stolen base percentage (87.0)…the A’s average time of game was 2:46, compared to 3:07 from last spring…however, had the highest average time of game in the majors (Phillies, 2:43)…league-wide, the average time of game was 2:35 compared to 3:01 last spring.
ROSTER NOTES: The A’s Opening Day roster featured seven players who returned from last years Opening Day roster (Acevedo, Brown, Jackson, Jiménez, Kemp, Moll, Oller), which matched the fewest returning players by an A’s team since Opening Day rosters are first available in 1992 (also 2012)…seven were signed as free agents (Aguilar, Díaz, Familia, Fujinami, May, Perez, Peterson), which are the most free agents on an A’s Opening Day roster since 1995 when they had eight…had two players in the Opening Day starting lineup that also started the opener last year, which were the fewest by an A’s team since 2015 when they also had two…of the 26 players on the A’s Opening Day roster, only four played for Oakland in at least each of the previous three seasons: Ramón Laureano (2018-22), Seth Brown (2019-22), James Kaprielian (2020-22) and Tony Kemp (2020- 22)…only Kemp, who has been on each of the A’s last four Opening Day rosters, has a streak of more than two consecutive Opening Day rosters with the A’s…Seth Brown, who was drafted on June 10, 2015 has the longest tenure in the A’s organization…18 of the 26 players were acquired by Oakland since the conclusion of the 2021 season (all but Acevedo, Allen, Brown, Jackson, Kaprielian, Kemp, Laureano, Moll)…had six rookies on the Opening Day roster (Capel, Fujinami, Muller, Noda, Ruiz, Waldichuk)…five players had six or more years of service: Familia (10 years, 8 days), May (8 years, 12 days), Peterson (6 years, 142 days), Díaz (6 years, 100 days) and Aguilar (6 years, 82 days)…the average age on the A’s Opening Day roster was 28.50 years, which is the A’s youngest since 2015 (27.92)…Esteury Ruiz, who was 24 years and 43 days, is the youngest…Trevor May was the oldest at 33 years and 188 days and he is the youngest oldest player on an A’s Opening Day roster since Mark Ellis in 2010 (32 years, 303 days).
THE INJURED LIST: The A’s begin the season with five players (Blackburn, Piña, Rucinski, Snead, Tarnok) on the injured list after starting the season with three last year…used the IL 31 times last year, which broke the Oakland record of 27 set in 2016 and matched in 2021…however, used the IL nine times for Covid in 2022 and three times in 2021.
A’S VS. GUARDIANS
• The A’s lost the first meeting of 2023 last night and now have a six-game home losing streak, which matches the longest home losing streak against Cleveland in Oakland history (6, June 3, 1994-July 27, 1995)…the last time the A’s lost more than six straight home games to Cleveland was May 5-July 17, 1954 when they Philadelphia A’s lost eight straight.
• Lost the season series last year for the first time since 2016.
• Went 1-6, which was their worst record against Cleveland since going 0-7 in 1995.
Year Home Road Totals
2023 0-1 0-0 0-1
2022 0-3 1-3 1-6
Oakland History: 288-251
at the Coliseum: 151-112
at Progressive Field: 52-70
All-Time: 923-1044
TODAY’S TIDBITS
Seth Brown has homered in each of his last four games against the Guardians and has six home runs in 14 career games against Cleveland, which are his most against any team…Ramón Laureano has four hits, three of which are for extra bases (one double, two home runs)…Esteury Ruiz is the only Athletic to reach base safely in each of the A’s first four games.
TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER: JP Sears (6-3, 3.86 ERA in 2022) FOR STARTERS: Is scheduled to make his first start of the season…begins his second season in the majors and is on his second consecutive Opening Day roster…made his Major League debut with the Yankees last year and pitched in relief during his first stint.
SPRING TRAINING RECAP: Went 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA and .874 opponents OPS in five games, including four starts…allowed a .304 opponents batting average but walked just four batters in 17.1 innings…allowed at least two runs in each of his five appearances…also pitched in a minor league game on March 17.
2022 RECAP: Pitched for four different teams in two organizations and made his Major League debut, combining for a 6-3 record, a 3.86 ERA and .716 opponents OPS in 17 games, including 11 starts…was on the Yankees Opening Day roster and went 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in seven games, including two starts, over five stints…was traded to the A’s with three other players for Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino on Aug. 1…made one start for Triple-A Las Vegas before reporting to Oakland on Aug. 10 and was 3-3 with a 4.69 ERA in 10 games, including nine starts, with the A’s…his six wins ranked sixth among American League rookies…his 3.86 ERA was fifth lowest among AL rookies with 70 or more innings pitched.
OPPONENTS BATTING: Combined for a .256 opponents batting average, which broke down to .254 (54-for-213) with a .723 OPS against right-handed hitters compared to .265 (13-for-49) with a .684 OPS against left-handers… yielded 17 of his 20 extra base hits to righties, including all eight of his home runs…opponents hit .256 with the bases empty, .255 with runners on…allowed a .226 average with runners in scoring position.
STARTING AND RELIEVING: Was 5-3 with a 4.27 ERA and .776 opponents OPS in his 11 starts compared to 1-0 with a 2.60 ERA and .501 OPS in six relief appearances…surrendered seven of his eight home runs as a starter…stranded both of his inherited runners in relief and first batters faced were 0-for-5 with a walk.
THIS AND THAT: Was 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA and .585 opponents OPS in eight games against AL West teams, 2-3 with a 5.81 ERA and .858 OPS in nine games against all other teams…had a 1.64 ERA in the first inning…allowed 10 of his 31 runs in the second inning for a 6.75 ERA…had a 3.64 ERA from the third inning on…Combined for a 4-3 record and a 4.25 ERA in 10 games in the Coliseum and Yankee Stadium…was 2-0 with a 3.25 ERA in seven games on the road…allowed three hits or fewer in 10 of his 17 appearances and two runs or fewer 13 times.
