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Oakland A’s history

1970 Oakland A’s: Setting The Stage For A Dynasty

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The West Coast had been good to the A’s franchise. In 1968 they relocated from Kansas City where they were a losing team from 1955 forward. In fact, the A’s hadn’t done anything noteworthy since they were in Philadelphia in Connie Mack’s final year of 1949. But upon arrival in Oakland, they immediately finished on the right side of .500 in 1968. That record jumped to 88-74 in 1969. The 1970 Oakland A’s continued the gradual improvement and set the stage for a glorious run.

There was a lot of young talent starting to emerge. Catfish Hunter was 24-years-old and the future Hall of Fame pitcher made 40 starts and won 18  games with a respectable 3.81 ERA. A 23-year-old named Rollie Fingers split time between the rotation and the pen and posted a 3.65 ERA. Fingers would eventually settle into a relief role and merely become a Hall of Famer himself.

Joe Rudi was another 23-year-old and still just a fourth outfielder for now. But he still got nearly 400 plate appearances and finished with a stat line of .341 on-base percentage/.480 slugging percentage. Rick Monday was 24-years-old in centerfield and his stat line popped at .387/.451

Bert Campaneris at short and Sal Bando at third base were into their primes in their  late twenties on the left side of the infield. Bando hit 20 homers and had a .407 OBP. Campaneris hit 22 home runs also stole 42 bases.

And there was also a young right fielder you may have heard about. Reginald Martinez Jackson was 24-years-old His stat line ended up .359/.458. Jackson hit 23 home runs and stole 26 bases, as he embarked on a Hall of Fame career where he would become one of those rare players who’s identifiable by just his first name—Reggie.

The young core that would eventually make this team a dynasty weren’t alone. Oakland swung a big trade with the Milwaukee Brewers to get first baseman Don Mincher. The price was high—Ken Sanders would become the American League’s top reliever for a few seasons (the Brewers were an AL team prior to 1998). But Mincher hit 27 home runs for the A’s.

On the pitching side, Chuck Dobson was another 40-start workhorse with 3.74 ERA. Blue Moon Odom was a respectable third starter, with a 3.80 ERA. Diego Segui joined Fingers as the versatile arms who could start and relieve, winning ten games and finishing with a 2.56 ERA.

One of the veterans, Mudcat Grant was the best pitcher of them all in 1970. Grant saved 24 games—a high number when complete games were still expected of starters—and finished with a dazzling 1.82 ERA. Paul Lindblad, Marcel Lachemann and Bob Lockner all provided quality relief work with sub-3.00 ERAs. And 20-year-old Vida Blue, soon to be another huge piece for this team starting to get some work, posting a 2.09 ERA in his six starts.

It added up to a balanced team, one that would finish fourth in the 12-team American League for staff ERA and fifth in runs scored.

Oakland mostly puttered through the season’s early movement. On the plus side, they won five of six against the lowly Washington Senators (to become the Texas Rangers in 1972). They won four straight over the Chicago White Sox. On the down side, they lost four straight in Boston. And they lost three of four in Minnesota.

The series with the Twins was particularly notable, because Minnesota was the team to beat in the AL West. The alignment of the time had each league split into just two divisions, an East and a West. And even that was only in its second year. Just two years earlier, in 1968, each league simply sent its best regular season team directly to the World Series. Minnesota won the inaugural AL West title in 1969. And as this 1970 season reached Memorial Day, the Twins were again setting the division’s pace. They were a ½ game up on the California Angels. The A’s were in third place, six games back, with a record of 22-20.

No one was better in 1970 than the Baltimore Orioles, running away with the AL East and ultimately the World Series title. Oakland hosted Baltimore for a three-game series at the start of June. The Tuesday night opener was nothing notable, as the A’s bats mustered only five hits off against Jim Palmer and lost 5-1. The offense continued to be quiet for seven innings on Wednesday night. But Fingers was pitching well and it was a 1-1 tie going into the eighth.

Oakland leftfielder Felipe Alou singled. So did Rudi. Bando homered to dead center. The A’s won it 4-1. Thursday night’s finale followed a similar script. Catfish was pitching well, but trailed 1-0 in the sixth. Rudi got a rally started by beating out a bunt. Bando bunted him up to second and Mincher tied the game with an RBI single. Then light-hitting catcher Frank Fernandez ripped a two-blast to get the lead. Bando homered later in the game. The game ended 4-2 and the A’s had a nice series win.

A week and a half later, Oakland made the return trip to Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium for a weekend set. Friday night’s opener went to extra innings tied 2-2. A hit batsman got the A’s going in the 11th. Campaneris and Reggie hit consecutive RBI doubles and secured the 4-2 win.

Both Campy and Reggie kept hitting on Saturday night. The former had three hits in the leadoff spot. The latter had three hits of his own, including a home run. And it was a good thing, because this one turned into a slugfest. Oakland second baseman Dick Green delivered the biggest blow of all, a three-run blast that made the difference in a 10-7 win.

By Sunday, the A’s and Orioles were back to playing tight pitcher’s duels and going extra innings. After Mudcat got lifted for a pinch-hitter (the DH did not exist in the American League until 1973), Baltimore capitalized and took the finale 4-2 in ten. But over a key stretch of the early summer, the A’s had beaten the best team in baseball four times in six tries.

It was the highlight of a strong run into the All-Star break. Oakland’s record was up to 45-35 by the midpoint. That was enough to narrow the gap on California. But Minnesota had answered with strong play of their own. The A’s were still in third place, and still 6 ½ games back.

There was still plenty of time to make a move, but Oakland stumbled out of the break. They lost three straight at home to Minnesota. They lost three straight in New York. They lost two of three at home to Baltimore. The A’s showed resilience—they beat the Yankees three straight at home, swept the Orioles on the road and stayed alive by winning three of five games in Minnesota.

It was enough to hold serve, to still be 76-62 at the Labor Day turn and still within six games of the lead. But all the games against the Twins in the late summer were an opportunity to really slash into that gap. That opportunity was missed and there weren’t many more left.

The last really good opportunity came on September 9-10 in the Twin Cities, with three games over two days. The A’s were outscored 16-4 and lost all three. That was the death knell for any pennant hopes.

Oakland did not throw in the towel then last couple weeks. They won two of three in California in the season’s final week, and pushed past the Angels for second place. The A’s had 88 wins going into the season finale at home against Milwaukee. With a chance to improve on 1969’s record, they rallied by beating their old friend Ken Sanders. Down 4-1, the A’s got Sanders for two in the eighth and two in the ninth for a 5-4 win. They ended the season at 89-73.

That record was fourth-best in the American League overall and sixth-best in all of baseball. The playoff standards of today could never have been imagined in 1970, but these A’s were indeed postseason caliber by the more lenient standards of the 21st century. By 1971, Oakland would be playoff-caliber by the rules of their own day. By 1972, they would be champions. In 1973 and 1974, they sealed their status as an all-time great dynasty.

The 1987 Oakland A’s: Laying The Foundation

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Baseball in Oakland had been in a dry spell since the AL West title run in the strike-shortened season of 1981. The A’s promptly dipped under .500 the following year and stayed there. Midway through the 1986 season, the organization tapped Tony LaRussa, who had managed the 1983 Chicago White Sox into the ALCS, to be the skipper. Under LaRussa, the A’s went 45-34. The final record was still under .500, but there was hope. The 1987 Oakland A’s built off that hope. They contended deep into the season, ended their streak of losing seasons and laid the foundation for an American League dynasty.

Jose Canseco was a big part of the optimism. The left fielder won Rookie of the Year honors in 1986, and followed that up with 31 homers and 113 RBIs in this 1987 season. The A’s called up another big power bat from their minor league system. Mark McGwire took the first base job and promptly led the majors with 49 homers and a .618 slugging percentage. McGwire made it two straight Rookie of the Years for the organization.

Together, the  muscular builds and power hitting of Canseco and McGwire led to the nickname “The Bash Brothers”, and they would become the focal point of this new era. That’s in ways both good and bad—from the perspective of history, we know they helped Oakland do a lot of winning in the coming seasons. We also know there was more than a little artificial enhancement behind these power numbers.

There is no such mixed legacy for third baseman Carney Lansford. A solid, underrated ballplayer, Lansford quietly produced for several years and 1987 was no different. He posted a stat line of a .366 on-base percentage/.455 slugging percentage. Terry Steinbach, the 25-year-old catcher, had a stat line of .349/.463. Mike Davis played right field and popped 22 home runs. Tony Phillips, the versatile second baseman, had a .337 OBP. All told, it was enough for the A’s to rank sixth in the American League in runs scored.

Oakland made several trades in the offseason. One was more about sentiment. They brought the great Reggie Jackson back home. The future Hall of Famer was a vital part of the great A’s teams that won three straight World Series titles in the early 1970s, before going on to more success with the New York Yankees and California Angels. Reggie’s production now was minimal, but the move allowed him to end his career where it had begun.

Other deals were more consequential to the immediate future and they were aimed at the bullpen. Dennis Eckersley’s career as a starting pitcher was struggling with the Chicago Cubs. The A’s picked up Eck for a couple minor leaguers and put him in the pen. This season, he shared closing duties and saved 16 games with a 3.03 ERA. By the following year, he had the closer’s gig to himself and put together a Hall of Fame resume. I’d say the trade worked out pretty well.

The A’s also made trades to get Rick Honeycutt and Gene Nelson for the bullpen. These aren’t names that jump off the page, but they would prove vital as a lefty-righty tag team for Oakland in the years ahead.

A developing bullpen supported a pitching staff that was anchored by Dave Stewart. The workhorse made an astonishing 37 starts, won 20 games, posted a 2.61 ERA and began a four-year run of finishing in the top three of the American League Cy Young voting.

The rest of the rotation lacked depth. Curt Young and Steve Ontiveros were respectable in the 2-3 spots, but they were no one any team would fear. There was a real problem at the back end of the rotation. But Stewart, along with the improved bullpen and the pitcher-friendly dimensions of Oakland’s ballpark, helped the A’s finish fifth in the American League for staff ERA.

When Oakland lost 10 of their first 13 games, all to AL West opponents, it put a quick damper on the optimism. But in May, the A’s started to turn it around. It started with a weekend visit from the Detroit Tigers, a team that would end the season with the best record in baseball.

A pitcher’s duel on Friday night went into extra innings. Eckersley pitched over four innings of scoreless relief and a 1-1 tie held until the bottom of the 13th. Mike Davis slashed a leadoff double and scored the winning run on a base hit from Steinbach.

With a day game on Saturday, the turnaround had to be quick, and this one turned into another 13-inning affair. This time it was Nelson tossing nearly five innings of scoreless relief. A 2-2 tie held to the 13th. This time it was McGwire and Steinbach starting with a rally with base hits. An infield hit loaded the bases and when the Tigers flubbed a squeeze bunt, McGwire scored the winning run.

Sunday’s finale saw more great pitching on both sides, but Oakland only needed the standard nine innings. Eric Plunk threw a shutout, Canseco homered and a 2-0 win completed the sweep for the A’s.

Oakland took that momentum and turned it into a series wins over good AL East teams in Toronto, New York and Milwaukee (an American League team prior to 1998). By Memorial Day, the A’s were nudging back close to .500 with a record of 20-22. With the AL West not being particularly strong, Oakland was still a manageable five games off the pace.

Here’s a good spot to step back and remind younger readers that from 1969 to 1993, each league was split into just two divisions, an East and a West. There were no wild-cards, with the first-place finisher going directly to the League Championship Series. So the AL West, in addition to current members in the A’s, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers and Angels, also had centrally located teams in the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals. In this era, the playoffs were a steep hill to climb.

Kansas City was the team out to the early divisional lead and the A’s beat the Royals in both of the June series these teams played. It was part of a strong early summer and by the All-Star break, Oakland’s record was 46-41. They were tied for second place with Kansas City and just two games back of first-place Minnesota. Pennant race baseball was back.

The A’s went to Fenway Park out of the break, grabbed three of four from the Red Sox, and sliced the AL West margin to a single game. But then Oakland stumbled. A schedule stretch that included the Tigers and Brewers saw seven losses in ten games. With the Twins also not playing well, it was a missed opportunity. But the margin stayed at two games when Minnesota came to Oakland for a three-game weekend set starting on July 31.

Canseco homered to give the A’s an early lead in Friday night’s opener, but the bullpen had problems in the middle innings and Oakland lost 5-3. On Saturday afternoon a high-profile pitcher’s duel between Stewart and eventual Cy Young winner Frank Viola went down. The A’s were trailing 2-1 in the eighth before a walk and hit batsman gave them life. A single from light-hitting shortstop Alfredo Griffin tied the game and Lansford won it with a walk off blast in the ninth.

Sunday’s finale was even more dramatic. Eckersley and co-closer Jay Howell combined to cough up a 5-3 lead and a 5-5 game went into the 11th inning. Griffin reached on an error and stole second. A base hit from backup outfielder Luis Polonia appeared poised to win the game, but Griffin was thrown out at the plate. Polonia alertly took second on the throw home and was able to score on a base hit from Canseco.

Oakland had won the series. And after they grabbed two of three from Seattle, the A’s moved into a tie for first place. But in the rematch with Minnesota back in the old Metrodome, Oakland pitching failed them. The A’s gave up 34 runs in four games and lost all four. The momentum was quelled, but they still reached Labor Day with a record of 69-67 and were still within three games of the lead.

Kansas City was also lurking and there were a couple big series between the Royals and A’s. The events of the early part of September saw both teams effectively take each other out of contention. Oakland dropped three of four at home to Kansas City and drifted to the margins of the race. On the return trip to the Midwest, the A’s won three straight. That all but finished the Royals, but the A’s were still 3 ½ games back and there were only two weeks left.

With the final couple weeks including only bad teams from Cleveland and Chicago, a surge was possible. But the A’s played poorly and were eliminated with a week to play. They ended up in third place with a final record of 81-81.

The finish was disappointing. So was not getting a winning record. But the A’s were off the skid of losing seasons and had found their core of talent to build on. In 1988, they ripped off 104 wins and returned to the World Series. And in 1989, they won it all.

2000 Oakland A’s: A Streak Of Playoff Seasons Begins

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The Oakland A’s had been the gold standard of major league baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  They won four AL West titles, three American League pennants and the World Series in 1989 under the leadership of Tony LaRussa. But the costs of being a small market team forced a rebuild and LaRussa left in 1995. Art Howe took over as manager. In 1998, Billy Beane became the general manager. By 1999, the franchise returned to contention. And the 2000 Oakland A’s took the next step and started a four-year run of playoff appearances.

Jason Giambi led the way. In an era when offensive numbers were fueled by PED use, Giambi’s were the best of all in 2000. His stat line was .476 on-base percentage/.647 slugging percentage. He hit 43 home runs and drove in 137 runs on his way to the MVP award.

Miguel Tejada would win an MVP of his own two years later and the shortstop was awfully good in 2000. His OBP was .349, he hit 30 homers and finished with 115 RBI. Veteran second baseman Randy Velarde, a 37-year-old on a team of mostly young players, posted an OBP of .354.

Eric Chavez had a terrific year at third base, with a .355/.495 stat line and centerfielder Terrence Long had a line of .336/.452. Left fielder Ben Grieve popped 27 homers and drove in 104 runs.

The A’s offense, under the direction of Beane, was built on drawing walks and hitting home runs. Batting average was de-emphasized and Oakland only finished 10th in the American League in BA. But they were second in walks and second in homers and that was enough to be third in the AL in the bottom line of runs scored.

Tim Hudson won 20 games with a 4.14 ERA. In this offense-driven era, that ERA was just fine—in fact, Hudson finished second in the Cy Young voting. Gil Heredia and Kevin Appier were 15-game winners with ERAs in the 4s. Even though Barry Zito and Mark Mulder would eventually join Hudson in giving the A’s a dynamic rotation, they were still going through growing pains. But Jason Isringhausen led up a good bullpen with 33 saves and was supported by excellent work from Jeff Tam and reliable 43-year-old veteran Doug Jones. All that was enough for the Oakland staff to also rank third in the American League.

The A’s started slowly, losing 13 of their first 22 games. But they went to Minnesota and swept a bad Twins team, then won six of ten against AL West rivals. By Memorial Day, Oakland was 25-25. In an AL West where all four teams (all of the current members except the Houston Astros) were on top of each other, that was enough to be within a game and a half of the lead and only four back in the race for what was then a single wild-card berth.

The early part of the summer went well for the A’s. They took two of three on the road from the two-time defending World Series champion New York Yankees. Oakland played well during a stretch of interleague games, going 7-2 and winning a rivalry series from the San Francisco Giants—who ultimately won the NL West.

Oakland nudged out to a two-game lead in the AL West before losing seven of nine against the Rangers and Angels. By the All-Star break, the A’s were 48-38, three back of the Seattle Mariners in the division and leading the wild-card pack by a game and a half.

Late summer was up and down. Oakland lost two of three to San Francisco immediately out of the break. They lost two series to the White Sox, who were on their way to the American League’s best regular season record. The A’s lost a couple series to the Yankees. But in games against fellow wild-card contenders from Toronto, Boston and Cleveland, Oakland went 8-2. When the season hit the Labor Day stretch drive, the A’s were 71-64. They were 2 ½ back of Seattle in the West and two back of Cleveland for the wild-card.

Oakland picked up steam for the next two weeks. The Red Sox and Blue Jays started to drift off the wild-card pace. We had a game of musical chairs going on between the Mariners, A’s and Indians to see which team would be left without a seat when the music stopped. Coming into final week, Oakland was one game back of Seattle and one game ahead of Cleveland.

Oakland’s excellent offense met the moment against the Angels, scoring 29 runs in a four-game series and winning three times. When Friday’s final weekend series began, the A’s were plus-two on the Indians to get in the playoffs and a half-game back of the Mariners for the division.

On Friday night, Velarde stepped up with three hits. Giambi also homered and Oakland beat Texas 7-5. While Cleveland also won, good news came elsewhere—Seattle had lost and the A’s were in first place.

On Saturday afternoon, the Indians won their game so the A’s needed to answer in order to at least wrap up the wild-card. How did Oakland respond? With nine runs in the first inning, five in the fifth and eight more in the seventh. A 23-2 win seems like a pretty decisive way to lock up a playoff spot.

Seattle also won, so the division was still up for grabs. The A’s and Mariners had played an unequal number of games—Oakland was 90-70, while Seattle was 90-71. But prior to the 2012 playoff expansion, the difference between the division title and wild-card was accurately seen as less than substantial, so no makeup games or one-game playoff would apply. The only thing up in the air for the A’s was their seeding.

All of that makes the decision to pitch Hudson in the season finale a curious one. The ace was brilliant—eight shutout innings, a 3-0 win that sealed the AL West and his 20th win. But the reward for winning the division and the 2-seed was a Division Series date with New York. A September slump from the Yankees dropped them to the 3-seed, but this was still a team that was in the midst of a dynasty run.

Being the wild-card would have meant a trip to Chicago. The White Sox might have won 95 games, but had nowhere near the playoff experience of the Yankees. Going on the road to play the less-experienced team with your ace ready for Game 1 would have seemed like the better play.

The results in the Division Series played out like you might expect. Seattle went to Chicago and swept the White Sox out of the playoffs. The A’s played a tough five-game series against the Yanks, but came up short.

Debate over end-of-season management aside, this was an unequivocally outstanding season. The A’s were back and for the next four years they would be a fixture of the Division Series. Unfortunately they would lose all four in a decisive fifth game, but they were on the national radar. The run that made Billy Beane famous started in 2000.

1992 ALCS: Toronto Breaks Through Against Oakland

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The Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland A’s were old hands at postseason baseball by the time they met in the 1992 ALCS. The two teams faced each other in 1989, when Oakland rolled to a pennant and later a World Series title. The A’s had also been here in 1988 and 1990. The Blue Jays had also been to this round in 1985 and 1991. But while Oakland was a proven champion, Toronto had yet to get to a World Series. 1992 was the time to rectify that.

You can read more about the regular season journeys of the A’s and Blue Jays, and the performances of their key players, at the links below. This article will focus squarely on the games of the 1992 American League Championship Series.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1992 TORONTO BLUE JAYS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1992 OAKLAND A’S

Toronto’s Jack Morris and Oakland’s Dave Stewart were the very definition of big-game pitchers for their era and they squared off in the series opener on Wednesday night. By virtue of the rotation system that determined homefield advantage, the ALCS would open at Toronto’s Skydome.

The A’s got to Morris in the second inning. Harold Baines singled, and that was followed by home runs from Mark McGwuire and Terry Steinbach for a 3-0 lead. The Blue Jays chipped back in the middle innings on solo blasts from Pat Borders and Dave Winfield, but Oakland still held a 3-2 lead as the game went to the eighth.

With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Toronto got a double from Dave Winfield. Stewart was removed for Jeff Russell, but the setup man couldn’t stop John Olerud from lining a single to center to tie the game. Morris was still in for Toronto, but Baines got him one more time—with a home run down the right field line. This time the lead stood up and the 4-3 win gave the A’s early control of the series.

Toronto had acquired David Cone at the trade deadline and this kind of virtual must-win game at home on Thursday night was the reason why. He squared off with Oakland’s Mike Moore and both pitchers quickly settled in.

The game was scoreless until the fifth. The A’s had a chance to break through when they put runners on second and third. But a couple big strikeouts from Cone kept the scoreless tie intact. Until the Blue Jays came to the plate. Kelly Gruber hit a two-run blast for the game’s first runs. Two innings late, Gruber doubled and scored to give Cone a 3-0 lead.

Cone was removed in the ninth after allowing a leadoff triple to Ruben Sierra. Tom Henke, the closer came on. Baines’ RBI single brought to the tying run to the plate in the person of McGwire. The big first baseman hit the ball well, but got underneath it just enough to keep it in the park. The deep fly out to right was Oakland’s best shot in a 3-1 loss.

The A’s still had three games coming up home and the first one was a noon start local time on Saturday afternoon. Oakland sent postseason veteran Ron Darling to face Toronto’s talented young 16-game winner Juan Guzman.

An early error by A’s third baseman Carney Lansford resulted in a Blue Jay run and fourth-inning home run by Roberto Alomar nudged Toronto out to a 2-zip lead. Oakland made their first move in the bottom of the fourth. Sierra doubled to start a two-run rally that included another key base hit from Baines. The game was tied 2-2, the bases were loaded and there was nobody out. Mike Bordick lifted a fly ball to right. McGwire tagged up from third. Jays’ rightfielder Joe Carter threw him out at the plate. Toronto had turned back a potentially big inning and then immediately got a solo blast from Candy Maldonado to start the fifth.

The starting pitchers each made it through six innings and the score stayed 3-2 into the seventh. An error by Bordick opened the door to a two-run triple by Manny Lee and the Jays were up 5-2. The A’s countered with three singles, wrapped around a walk and stolen base by Rickey Henderson to get the two runs back and make it 5-4.

Russell came on in the eighth and for the second time in this series, struggled. He walked Winfield and with the 40-year-old later on third base, Russell uncorked a wild pitch that allowed the run. It proved to be a big run, because Oakland got something going against Henke in their own half of the eighth, getting runners on first and third with one out.

Lansford was at the plate and when he popped out, it looked like Henke would escape. But Sierra blooped a single to make it a 6-5 game and gave the red-hot Baines a chance to be a hero. Alas, Henke got Baines to ground out. Toronto added one more insurance run off Oakland’s MVP closer Dennis Eckersley in the ninth and won 7-5.

The two teams came back again at noon on Sunday. Morris took the ball on short rest for Toronto, while Oakland turned to veteran Bob Welch. And the Blue Jay offense seemed to pick up where they left off, with a home run from Olerud staking Morris to a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

But in the bottom of the third, the A’s bats got rolling. They peppered Morris for five hits, along with two walks and rang up five runs. They were in position to get more before Bordick grounded into a double play that kept the score 5-1.

Oakland rallied again the fourth and chased Morris with runners on the corners and one out. Todd Stottlemyre came out of the bullpen and delivered for the Jays. He got Sierra on a weak grounder that couldn’t bring in the run and then retired Baines.

Sierra ripped a two-out double in the sixth and came around to score. The lead was stretched to 6-1 and stayed that way until the eighth. Roberto Alomar led off the Toronto frame with a double. Welch was removed. It was simply up to the Oakland bullpen, so reliable all year, to get the final six outs and put the ball back in Dave Stewart’s hands the following afternoon. Even with Russell ineffective, Oakland manager Tony LaRussa had other options and he went to Jeff Parrett.

It didn’t help. Carter and Winfield each got hits and LaRussa was forced to go to Eckersley early. Olerud and Maldonado greeted Eck with base hits. Suddenly the score was 6-4, there were runners on first and second and still nobody out. Eckersley shut it down from there, and celebrated by shaking his fist at the Blue Jay dugout.

The celebration was premature. Devon White singled to start the Toronto ninth and Alomar homered to tie the game. LaRussa had to pull Eckersley, as Toronto loaded up the bases again with two outs. Jim Corsi finally got a big out for the A’s, keeping the score 6-6.

Oakland was poised to win it in the ninth. Baines singled. Pinch-runner Eric Fox stole second and was bunted over to third with one out. But Toronto’s Duane Ward got Steinbach and Lansford to to kill the threat.

It was one more missed opportunity for the A’s offense and it would be their last. Toronto picked up a run in the eleventh, Henke slammed the door and the Blue Jays had a commanding 3-1 series lead, with two home games still in tow.

The Blue Jays stood on the cusp of their first pennant, but it wasn’t going to happen against Stewart in his own backyard. Sierra hit a two-run blast off Cone early in the game for a 2-0 lead. Jerry Browne filled in for Lansford at third base and delivered a four-hit game, including an RBI single in the third.. Oakland added three more in the fifth. Stewart went the distance, pitching a seven-hitter and winning 6-2.

Toronto’s history of postseason failures meant no one in Canada was taking anything for granted. Especially because one of those failings—in 1985—involved blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing the final two games at home.

But not this year. In a late Wednesday afternoon start, the Blue Jay bats unloaded early and often against Moore. Carter hit a two-run blast in the first. Olerud added to the lead with an RBI single. And Maldonado blew it open in the third, with a three-run homer that made it 6-0. The rest of the afternoon and early evening was a party atmosphere in Skydome, with the Jays cruising to a 9-2 win.

Alomar was named 1992 ALCS MVP and it was a deserved honor. He finished the series with a stat line of .464 on-base percentage/.692 slugging percentage and his Game 4 home run off Eckersley remains the moment that defines this series, even more than 25 years later.

Credit also has to Olerud, Winfield and Maldonado, who were consistent bats throughout. And Devon White set the table effectively with a .448 OBP in the leadoff spot. Guzman’s two wins, including the Game 6 clincher, led the starting pitching, while Henke saved the three close games and didn’t allow a run.

Baines was the star on the Oakland side, with a stat line of .440/.640, including the game-winning home run in Game 1 that seemed like it might set the tone for the series. Sierra was excellent, at .357/.625. But Toronto was able to pitch around McGwire. The big slugger drew five walks, but didn’t get a chance to make a big enough impact with his bat.

For the A’s, this series was the end of an era. They would not return to postseason play until 2000. They did not reach the ALCS again until 2006. And they’ve yet to get back to the World Series.

Toronto had more champagne in their future. They finished the job in 1992, beating the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. And the Blue Jays came back in 1993 and did it again.

READ THE STORY OF THE 1992 WORLD SERIES

1992 Oakland A’s: One Last Run For Proud Vets

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The Oakland A’s were baseball’s dominant team from 1988-90. They finished with the best record in the majors and won the American League pennant all three years. They won the World Series in 1989. Upset losses in 1988 and 1990 dimmed their legacy, but there was no questioning their excellence. After a brief slip in 1991, they bounced back. The 1992 Oakland A’s were a group of proud veterans making one last run together.

Oakland came at opponents with deep pitching. Dave Stewart and Bob Welch, cornerstone arms of the pennant runs, were still good at age 35. Ron Darling, a key part of the New York Mets’ 1986 championship team, was now out west. This trio all had ERAs in the 3s. Mike Moore’s was a little higher, at 4.12, but the righthander won 17 games.

The bullpen was even deeper. Manager Tony LaRussa got the most out of a crew that included 38-year-old Rick Honeycutt and 40-year-old Goose Gossage. Jim Horsman, Vince Corsi and Jeff Parretts rounded out the setup team that served as the bridge between the rotation and the ninth inning.

And if Oakland got to the ninth inning with the lead? It was as good as over. At the age of 37, the future of Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersely saved 51 games, posted a 1.91 ERA and swept both the Cy Young and MVP awards in the American League.

Offensively, the A’s finished with the same rank as the pitching staff—fourth in the American League. The lineup was a little more top-heavy dependent on a few key parts. Rickey Henderson was 33-years-old, but the leadoff man could still fly. He finished with an on-base percentage of .412 and stole 48 bases. Mark McGwire hit 42 home runs with a .385 OBP and finished fourth in the MVP voting.

A player that’s forgotten from these teams is tough second baseman Mike Bordick, whose .358 OBP at the second base spot was invaluable. It helped at least partially offset a mediocre year from left fielder Jose Canseco, something the front office would move aggressively to address in the late summer.

Oakland played steady baseball in the early going and reached Memorial Day with a 26-17 record, good for a 1 ½ game lead in the AL West. In these days prior to the realignment and postseason expansion that was just two years away, each league had only an East & West division with the winners moving directly to the League Championship Series. That meant defending World Series champ Minnesota was a division rival of the A’s.

The A’s got hot in the first part of June. They scored 22 runs in a sweep of Boston and nudged the division lead out to four games. The second part of the month saw Oakland give the advantage back. They lost three of four at home to the Twins, the last two by scores of 12-2 and 10-2 in an ugly weekend of baseball at Alameda County Coliseum. When the All-Star break arrived, the A’s were two games behind the champs.

August was the defining month. Oakland went 19-10 and took control of the AL West, spurting out to a 6 ½ game lead. On the final day of the month, they were playing a contending Baltimore Orioles team. Canseco was in the on-deck circle in the first inning when he was summoned back to the dugout. He’d been traded to Texas.

It was a shocking move, but the A’s got a good package in return. Ruben Sierra was an offensive force in the outfield. Bobby Witt was a power righthander that gave the rotation another arm. Witt would make six starts down the stretch and post a 3.41 ERA. Jeff Russell gave LaRussa another weapon out of the bullpen and he pitched scoreless baseball in nine innings of September work.

Even so, the move clearly shocked a team that had taken control of a good division. Oakland was shut out that night by Baltimore and lost five of seven immediately following the trade. Minnesota pulled within 4 ½ games.

In those days, when the A’s really needed a win, there was no one more reliable then Stewart. So it was on September 9 when he took the mound in Anaheim. Stewart pitched seven innings of two-hit baseball, outdueling talented Angels’ lefty Mark Langston. Russell and Eckersely cleaned up the last two innings. That game was the final turning point of the season. Oakland’s divisional lead began trending back upward and the race never got tighter. The A’s clinched an off-night with a week to go, as the Twins lost a game.

Oakland’s 96 wins were even with AL East champ Toronto, but record didn’t decide homefield advantage. A simple rotation system did, so the American League Championship Series opened in Toronto. Stewart got the ball in Game 1, pitched well and the A’s pulled out a win on a late home run by Harold Baines. They had temporary control of this series.

The emphasis is on “temporary” though. Toronto won the next three games. The cruelest cut was Game 4. The A’s led 6-1 in the eighth inning and even after a Jays rally, still had a 6-4 lead in the ninth with Eckersley on the mound. The MVP gave up a game-tying home run to Roberto Alomar and it was lost in extra innings. Stewart won Game 5, but the Blue Jays closed it out in the sixth game.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1992 ALCS

It was still a magnificent year in Oakland, the last run for a great group of players. The fact this was the end of the run was no surprise. In fact, it was LaRussa’s last winning season in Oakland. He stayed on three more years before rejuvenating his career in St. Louis. As to the A’s, they didn’t make it back to the playoffs until 2000. But the 1992 season was a nice final chapter to a truly great run of baseball in the Bay Area.

1974 Oakland A’s: New Leader; Same Championship Result

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For a two-time defending World Series champion, the 1974 Oakland A’s entered the season in a bit of flux. They had a new manager. After Dick Williams resigned immediately following the championship in 1973, Alvin Dark was the new man in charge. But the players on the field were fundamentally the same and that added up to the same result—a third straight World Series title in Oakland.

Pitching was the key and a Cy Young season from Catfish Hunter led the way. Hunter worked 318 innings, astonishing even by the workhorse standards of the day and won 25 games with a 2.49 ERA. Vida Blue and Ken Holtzman each had ERAs in the low 3s and combined for 36 more wins. Rollie Fingers, the versatile reliever who was destined for the Hall of Fame, worked 119 innings and posted a 2.65 ERA. These four arms carried the A’s to the American League’s best ERA.

The everyday lineup produced the 2-3-4 finishers in the American League MVP voting. Joe Rudi drove in 99 runs and finished second. Sal Bando drove in 103 and came in third. Reggie Jackson actually had the best year of any of them. Reggie finished with a .391 on-base percentage, slugged .574, hit 29 home runs, drove in 93 runs, scored 90 more and stole 25 bases. It was a magnificent all-around campaign and why he didn’t finish higher in the voting is subject to anyone’s speculation.

The Jackson-Bando-Rudi trio got support from Gene Tenace, who hit 26 home runs. Bert Campaneris at short and Billy North in centerfield combined to swipe 89 bases. The offense overall wasn’t as good as it had been in the championship runs of 1972 and 1973, but it was still third in the AL in runs scored.

Oakland straggled out of the gate and were 10-11 when they delivered a sweep of AL West division rival Minnesota and took two of three from another challenger in Kansas City (Prior to 1994, there was only an East & West division in each league, with the winners going directly to the LCS). By Memorial Day, the A’s record was a pedestrian 24-20, but that was enough to be on top of a balanced AL West.

They gradually picked up steam in the early part of the summer. There was a four-game sweep of the California Angels in June. Right before the All-Star break, the A’s played AL East teams in New York, Baltimore and Cleveland, the first two being leading contenders. Oakland went 7-4 in this stretch and took a five-game lead into the break.

Chicago, Texas and Kansas City were the teams hoping to make a second-half run. The A’s played steady baseball immediately out of the break and pushed their lead as high as 7 ½ games. That’s where it stood on Labor Day. The White Sox had fallen by the wayside, with the Rangers and Royals still holding out hope for a September challenge.

Oakland had the opportunity to put Texas away in a four-game series in early September. Catfish got them rolling with a 3-0 win to start the series, but the A’s lost the next three. The margin was still comfortable at 5 ½ games with three weeks to play, but it wasn’t over yet. They went to Texas for a return trip and lost the first two of a weekend series. The Rangers had the chance to close within three games in the Sunday finale.

The championship veterans answered the bell. Bando hit a two-run homer and Fingers gave 4 2/3 innings of quality relief work in a 4-1 win. That effectively ended the hopes of the challengers. With six days to go in the season, Hunter beat the Twins 2-1 to secure at least a tie. One day later, Texas blew an extra-inning lead in Kansas City and lost 5-4, ending the race.

Oakland faced a familiar foe in the 1974 ALCS. The A’s had met the Baltimore Orioles in this round in both 1971 (when the Orioles won) and in the ‘73 postseason run. Neither team was outstanding this year—the Orioles had 91 wins and the A’s had 90—but there was plenty of October experience.

Baltimore was an offensively-challenged team that thrived on great pitching. Even with an off-year by the great Jim Palmer, the Orioles had the second-best pitching in the American League behind starters Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally and Ross Grimsley. They were also hot, having barreled past the Red Sox in the late summer and nipped the Yankees in the stretch.

The ALCS was a best-of-five affair prior to 1985 and homefield was done by a rotation system that would have the first two games in Oakland and the remainder of the series in Baltimore. A 6-3 loss in Game 1 with Hunter on the mound put Oakland’s back to the wall quickly. But Holtzman came up big in Game 2. And then the pitching really took over. Blue pitched a gem and outdueled the great Jim Palmer back in Baltimore in Game 3. Hunter, with a chance at redemption, won a pitcher’s duel of his own in Game 4 and the A’s had another pennant. 

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1974 ALCS

The World Series would be an all-California affair, as the Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League pennant. The Dodgers had the best record in baseball at 102-60. They had the MVP award winner in Steve Garvey and the Cy Young Award winner with reliever Mike Marshall. The games in this Series would all be close, but Oakland’s championship mettle came shining through in difficult spots. 

The A’s split the first two games in Los Angeles, both by 3-2 scores. They won another 3-2 game back home in Game 3. The fourth game saw Oakland trail in the sixth inning before a four-run rally put them in command. Game 5 was tied 2-2 in the late going. Rudi homered off of Marshall in the seventh, Fingers put away the fourth 3-2 final of the Series and for the third straight year, the Oakland A’s were the champions of baseball. 

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1974 WORLD SERIES

Oakland had one more good run left in the team, winning a fifth straight AL West title in 1975. But they lost the ALCS to Boston that year, bringing an end to the dynasty. The newly dawning era of free agency would break apart this team. Hunter left for New York after the ‘74 season. Reggie followed suit. Owner Charlie Finley dismantled the rest of the roster. 1974 was the last championship run of a great dynasty.

The Repeat World Series Run Of The 1973 Oakland A’s

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1972 was a breakthrough year for the Oakland A’s, as they won their first World Series title on the West Coast. The 1973 Oakland A’s built on the success, winning a second straight championship.

Reggie Jackson led the way, with one of the great seasons of his Hall of Fame career. Reggie hit 32 home runs, drove in 117 runs, scored 99 more and won the MVP award. He got support from third baseman Sal Bando, who popped 29 home runs, drove in 98 runs and scored 97. Gene Tenace, moved into the everyday lineup after his heroics in October of 1972, hit 24 homers.

Bill North set the table for the offense with a .376 on-base percentage and he stole 53 bases. Shortstop Bert Campaneris added 34 steals to his excellent defensive play. Deron Johnson, the 34-year-old who got playing time in the newly created American League role of designated hitter, hit 19 home runs. It was all enough to make up for an off-year by leftfielder Joe Rudi and produce the best-scoring offense in the American League.

The pitching was awfully good too, with Ken Holtzman, Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue each winning 20 games. Rollie Fingers came out of the bullpen and posted 1.92 ERA. Even with a down year from starting pitcher Blue Moon Odom, the A’s had the second-best staff ERA in the league.

Oakland stumbled out of the gate and lost seven of their first ten to AL West rivals Kansas City, Minnesota and Chicago (prior to 1994 each league was split into just an East and West, with the winner advancing directly to the League Championship Series). The A’s found their footing, but on Memorial Day they were still just 23-21 and in fifth amidst a packed Western Division.

Five straight losses to the Tigers and Yankees out of the holiday didn’t lift anyone’s spirits and Oakland fell six games off the pace. But an 8-4 homestand in early June against AL East teams got things looking back upward. An eight-game road swing against the Royals and White Sox produced five victories. When those same two teams made the return trip west, Oakland won five of six.

They were tied for first by early July and an 11-5 stretch going into the All-Star break opened up a 2 ½ game lead on Kansas City. Chicago had basically switched places with Oakland over the early part of the summer, as the White Sox fell to .500 and fifth place.

The A’s stumbled out of the break, losing three straight in Minnesota. By August 9, the Royals had nudged a half-game into the lead, while everyone else in the AL West had faded to sub-.500 and would not recover.

Oakland again got well against the AL East, ripping off fourteen wins in fifteen games and rebuilding their lead back to five. On Labor Day weekend in Kansas City, the champs had the opportunity to drive a dagger into the heart of the young challenger. But the A’s pitching failed them–they gave up 23 runs in three games. Only an offensive outburst by Bando in the Friday opener—two home runs, including an inside-the-park job, salvaged a single win.

The AL West lead was still four games on September 10, when Kansas City arrived in Oakland to start the final three weeks of the regular season. This time, the A’s didn’t miss their chance. Blue threw a complete-game four-hitter, while Bando’s three hits led a balanced offensive assault in a 13-0 win. Glenn Abbott went the distance to win the second game 3-1. Even though Holtzman lost the finale, Oakland’s lead was still a comfortable five games.

And it never got closer. On the season’s penultimate Sunday, the A’s clinched. Rudi and Bando combined to drive in seven runs in a 10-5 win over the White Sox. It was the third straight division crown and it set up Oakland’s chance at their second straight World Series.

The Baltimore Orioles were the AL East’s traditional power in the first part of the 1970s, and with 97 wins, were waiting in the 1973 ALCS. This was the second time in three years Baltimore and Oakland squared off for the American League pennant. The Oriole rotation was one that could match up with A’s pitching, and that showed right out of the chute in Game 1. Baltimore Cy Young Award winner Jim Palmer tossed a shutout. But Catfish answered with a Game 2 win. A dramatic Game 3 pitcher’s duel between Holtzman and Mike Cuellar went extra innings. Both pitchers went the distance, but Oakland survived in eleven innings. After blowing a late lead in Game 4, the A’s were pushed to the brink. But they had Catfish in reserve and the great pitcher delivered again for a repeat pennant. 

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1973 ALCS

An unlikely opponent awaited. The New York Mets had won just 82 games and were easily the worst team to ever reach the postseason at this point in baseball history (in fact, even in our era of expanded postseasons, the Mets are still tied for fewest wins by a playoff team in a non-strike year, with the 2005 San Diego Padres).

But these Mets had played their best down the stretch and then upset Cincinnati’s powerful Big Red Machine in the NLCS. New York had great pitching, with future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack leading the rotation. Like Baltimore, they had the arms to match up with Oakland. And, like the Orioles, the Mets pushed the A’s to the brink. 

Holtzman outdueled Matlack in Game 1. That set up a dramatic Game 2. It was the one game in this Series were both offenses got going, and was also marked by defensive miscues. Two key errors in extra innings by Oakland second baseman Mike Andrews contributed to a Mets win. It also led to considerable discord in the A’s clubhouse, as Andrews was scapegoated by owner Charlie Finley, with Williams and the players coming to Andrew’s defense. 

Oakland’s bats went quiet in the three games played in New York. The pitching bailed them out in Game 3, but losses in Games 4 & 5 put the A’s in a must-win spot. They came back home. Reggie got rolling with a couple of big doubles early in Game 6 that set the tone and helped force a Game 7. And in the finale, the A’s jumped out to an early lead and comfortably won 5-2. For the second straight year, they were champs. 

READ THE GAME-BY-GAME NARRATIVE OF THE 1973 WORLD SERIES

The tensions with the front office meant that the Dick Williams era in Oakland was over. But the winning was not. The A’s would keep it going under successor Alvin Dark and win another World Series in 1974. Their run of AL West titles, begun in 1971, extended on through 1975. The 1973 edition of the Oakland A’s just kept the championship assembly line rolling.

1972 Oakland A’s: A Breakthrough World Series Title

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The Oakland A’s were a franchise that was coming. In 1968, they had relocated from Kansas City and posted the franchise’s first winning season since 1932—when they were in Philadelphia and managed by Connie Mack. In their new west coast home, the A’s continued to play winning baseball in 1969 and 1970. In 1971, they hired Dick Williams as the manager. Williams led them to a 101-win season in the ALCS. The 1972 Oakland A’s took the next step and won the World Series.

Reggie Jackson, the 26-year-old centerfielder and future Hall of Famer, was the team’s best everyday player. He finished with an on-base percentage of .350 and slugged .473. His .265 batting average hurt him in terms of public perception, at a time when this stat was valued more than OBP. It’s one explanation for why Jackson managed to finish an appalling 18th in the MVP voting and behind four of his own teammates.

One of those teammates was Joe Rudi, who finished second for AL MVP. The leftfielder batted .305, though his OBP was a more pedestrian .345. He did slug .486, thanks to good power to the alleys, with 32 doubles. First baseman Mike Epstein was a good power hitter, with 26 home runs. Shortstop Bert Campaneris built his reputation as a defensive wizard. Sal Bando, the 28-year-old third baseman had an off-year in 1972, but Oakland still scored more runs than anyone in the American League.

The pitching had three horses leading the way in the rotation. Catfish Hunter, Ken Holtzman and Blue Moon Odom combined to win 55 games and all had ERAs at 2.51 or lower. And that doesn’t even include Vida Blue, who posted a 2.80 ERA. Blue, off his run to both the Cy Young and MVP awards in 1971, dealt with injuries, made only 23 starts and won just six games. But the fact a man with a 2.80 ERA with his track record was Oakland’s fourth starter indicates how good the rotation was.

Rollie Fingers, the future Hall of Famer, was the cornerstone of the bullpen at the age of 25. In an era when relievers were used with far more flexibility and creativity, Fingers won 11 games and saved 21 more. Williams also got valuable relief work from veterans like Joe Horlen, Bob Locker and Darrell Knowles. The Oakland staff ranked second in the American League in ERA.

The season didn’t start until April 15, due to a spring training lockout that would shorten the season by anywhere from six to eight games. When play finally did begin, Oakland was consistent, as they jousted with the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins atop the AL West (The MLB format was two divisions per league and the winners going directly to the League Championship Series. The Central Division and Division Series round did not exist until the realignment of 1994). The A’s were 19-11 when the White Sox came to town for a three-game series on Memorial Day weekend.

Holtzman and Hunter delivered complete-game wins on Friday and Saturday, with help from Jackson’s bat in each game. The Sunday finale went to extra innings tied 3-3. Fingers appeared to cough it up when he allowed a run in the 10th and then the first two Oakland batters were retired in the bottom of the inning. Then first baseman Mike Hegan singled to center to keep the game alive and 22-year-old reserve outfielder George Hendricks hit a two-run blast to win it and complete the sweep.

Consistency continued to mark Oakland’s play up to a late All-Star break that didn’t arrive until July 23. Minnesota fell of the pace. Chicago hung around and took three of four from Oakland at the end of June. But the A’s steadiness had them with a 56-35 record and 6 ½ game lead at the break.

Oakland stumbled in the latter part of July and early August, losing 11 of their first 19 out of the break. Chicago got hot and when they came west for another head-to-head matchup, the White Sox took the first two games and pulled into a first-place tie. Blue took the ball on Sunday with the division lead on the line and delivered a four-hit shutout to win 3-0.

The A’s and White Sox still swapped first place back and forth for the last couple weeks in August. Oakland won five of six games against lowly Cleveland and AL East-leading Detroit to nudge out to a 2 ½ game edge when Labor Day arrived, signaling the start of the stretch drive.

Oakland and Chicago had a pair of two-game sets with each other in September and they collectively split those four games. The ten games in between were crucial—the A’s went 7-3, while the White Sox were 5-5 and it gave Oakland a five-game margin with two weeks to go.

With six days to go, the A’s had assured themselves at least a tie and played a midweek day game against the Twins with the chance to clinch for the home fans. Oakland dug themselves a 7-0 hole, as Odom was uncharacteristically poor. But they started to rally in the fifth and after eight innings the game was tied 7-7. In the bottom of the ninth, Sal Bando was hit by a pitch and then scored on a double by Dal Maxvill to wrap up another AL West crown.

The postseason would test the cardiovascular capacity of the people of Oakland. The games ahead were tense, most were decided by one run, and most were tight pitching duels. The good news was, that was a battleground on which the A’s were uniquely qualified to compete.

Detroit had ended Baltimore’s three-year run of controlling the AL East and was be the opponent in the 1972 ALCS. In a playoff round that was then best-of-five, Oakland grabbed the first two games, including one where they came from behind in extra innings. Then they lost two games, including one where they coughed up a lead in extra innings. In the decisive Game 5, the big play was Jackson’s successful steal of home early in the game. It was costly–the great rightfielder tore up his knee and was out for the rest of the year. But it won the A’s a pennant. 

The World Series against the Cincinnati Reds was more of the same. Oakland won a pair of one-run games to open the Fall Classic. With the middle three games at home, they were poised to wrap it up early. But the A’s lost two of three, each decided by one run. They lost a blowout in Game 6. With everyone on the line in Game 7, the pitching game through. So did Gene Tenace–having hit four home runs in the Series, Tenace drove in the first run of Game 7 and he drove in the run that gave the A’s a lead they would not relinquish. With a 3-2 victory, the Oakland A’s were the champions of baseball.

And not for the last time. Oakland won the World Series again in 1973 and 1974. Their run of AL West titles stretched through 1975. The great dynasty of the 1970s was underway.

The 1991 Oakland A’s Fall From Grace

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The Oakland A’s were far and away the best team in the American League from 1988 through 1990. Each year they won the AL West with room to spare and they went a combined 12-1 in ALCS play, capturing three consecutive pennants. In 1989, they won the World Series. But all great runs come to an end eventually and so it was that the 1991 Oakland A’s fell from grace.

Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were “The Bash Brothers” and they defined the potent Oakland offense. Canseco was as good as ever in 1991, hitting 44 home runs and finishing with 122 RBI. The table-setter, Rickey Henderson had a vintage year himself, with a .400 on-base percentage and 58 steals. But McGwire was a different story—he fell of sharply and only slugged .383.

The offense was still fifth in the American League in runs scored and good enough to win. But pitching, the real crown jewel of the Oakland Dynasty, took a big step backward in 1991. Dave Stewart was one of the great big-game pitchers of his era, but he struggled to a 5.18 ERA in 35 starts. Bob Welch had won 27 games and the Cy Young Award in 1990, but his 35 starts saw him post a mediocre 4.58 ERA.

Dennis Eckersley was still a Hall of Fame closer and saved 43 games with a 2.96 ERA. But the rest of the bullpen, a big strength in the pennant years, also fell off. Eck wasn’t enough to save the staff from falling to 13th in the AL in ERA.

Oakland still played good, consistent baseball through the first four months of the season. They were 26-17 on Memorial Day. They slipped a bit in the early summer, but were still 44-38 at the All Star break and within 2 ½ games of the lead in a packed five-team race.

It was the Minnesota Twins who started to emerge from the pack (prior to 1994 there was no Central Division—both leagues had just an East and West with the winners going directly to the LCS). By the start of August, the seven head-to-head games the A’s had with the Twins were looming large.

Oakland hosted Minnesota for a three-game series on the first weekend of August, with the A’s three games off the lead. They grabbed the Friday night opener 3-1, as Welch went the distance and outdueled Twins’ ace Jack Morris. When Oakland came back the next afternoon and led 5-0 after seven innings, it looked like this race was about to get even tighter.

Instead, the eighth inning on August 3 proved to be the demarcation point where Oakland’s season began to run out of steam. The Twins unloaded for seven runs and won the game 8-6. Stewart pitched the Sunday finale, but gave up three quick runs and lost 6-2.

The A’s slid five games out, but with four games in the old Metrodome two weeks later, there was still opportunity to close the gap. In the opener, Canseco broke up a 2-2 tie in the ninth with a two-run blast. Eckersley gave it back in the bottom of the ninth and Oakland lost in twelve innings.

Welch and Morris rematched on Saturday and the A’s grabbed three runs in the first. Welch promptly imploded and the A’s ended up on the wrong end of a 12-4 rout. It was more of the same on Sunday—despite a 4-1 lead in the seventh behind Stewart, the Twins touched the Oakland ace for two runs, then beat setup man Rick Honeycutt in the eighth.

Oakland finally won the Monday finale, although even that was an adventure—after going ahead 6-0 behind a three-run jack from Henderson, they had to hold on for an 8-7 win. Regardless, at seven games out and with the Twins coming on strong, the push for a fourth straight pennant was all but over. The A’s limped to the finish line and ended up 84-78, in fourth place and eleven games back of Minnesota, who went on to win the World Series.

The mighty Oakland A’s were down, but they weren’t finished. They enjoyed a comeback year in 1992, where they won the AL West again, though this time they came up short in the ALCS. It was 1993 when they collapsed and lost 94 games, triggering a wholesale rebuild that included manager Tony LaRussa moving on to St. Louis.

The Dominance & Surprise Fall Of The 1990 Oakland Athletics

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The 1990 Oakland Athletics were the gold standard of baseball. They had won consecutive American League pennants and the 1989 World Series. They spent all of 1990 looking ready to claim a special place in history before a shocking ending dented the legacy.

Oakland is remembered in this era for “The Bash Brothers”, the power-hitting duo of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco. Both had vintage years in 1990. McGwire hit 39 home runs and drove in 108 runs. Canseco’s numbers were 37/101. Both had on-base percentages of .370-plus. But the A’s were much more.

It was in the small-ball aspects of the game—walks, steals and on-base percentage—where Oakland excelled. No one was better than Rickey Henderson. The leadoff man and future Hall of Famer finished with a .439 OBP and slugged .577. He stole 65 bases, scored 119 runs and popped 28 home runs. He won the AL MVP award.

Oakland’s pitching was better. Dave Stewart was a 22-game winner and one of the great big-game pitcher of his era. Dennis Eckersley was a Hall of Fame closer, and his 48 saves and 0.61 ERA rendered him virtually unhittable in 1990. And Bob Welch racked up an astonishing 27-6 record and finished with a 2.95 ERA on his way to the Cy Young Award.

The star talent of Henderson, Stewart, Welch, Eckersley, McGwire and Canseco was augmented by a bona fide star in the dugout. Manager Tony LaRussa got the most out of the rest of the roster and Oakland finished with the AL’s best ERA and its third-most runs scored.

By Memorial Day the A’s were 30-12, but they were in a tight race In the days when baseball had just two divisions in each league and only the winners advancing to the postseason, Chicago and Minnesota were hot on Oakland’s heels for the AL West lead, four games back and 5 ½ respectively. No one in the AL East comparable.

On June 14, Oakland visited the South Side of Chicago. Stewart took the mound on Thursday to open a four-game series. He fell behind 3-0, but settled in the rest of the way. The problem was that in spite of thirteen hits, the A’s couldn’t get the big knock and they lost 3-2. When they trailed 4-1 in the eighth inning on Friday night, the race was poised to tighten further.

But a four-run rally won that game and it rolled into Saturday night when the offense unloaded for seven runs in the first inning of a 12-3 win. Mike Moore pitched well in Sunday’s finale and kept his team in it, trailing 2-1 after seven. McGwire homered to tie it and three consecutive singles gave the A’s the lead. Eckersley closed out the 5-2 win.

Oakland had the chance to open up the race further when Chicago made came west the following weekend. But the opportunity was missed. The A’s scored five runs the entire weekend. Stewart was on the wrong end of another tough 3-2 decision and the White Sox swept the series. By the All-Star break, even though the A’s were 51-31, they were only two games up.

August was the decisive month. Oakland went 18-9. Chicago lost four straight at mediocre Baltimore and went into a slump against the rest of AL East. The A’s extended the lead to 6 ½ games by Labor Day and it never got close again.

The clinching moment came with a week left in the regular season. With the magic number at two, A’s were in Kansas City. Twenty minutes after getting word of a Chicago loss, Stewart put the finishing touches on a complete-game five-hitter.

Oakland met Boston in the ALCS. The A’s spotted the Red Sox the first run of the opening three games of the series and then came back and won. Games 1 & 2 at Fenway (homefield was decided by a rotation system, not W-L record) were each tied 1-1 going into the seventh. The A’s won the opener 9-1 and then grabbed a 4-1 win. They won again by a 4-1 count at home in Game 3.

Inn Wednesday afternoon’s Game 4, Oakland quit toying—they scored three runs off Roger Clemens early, keyed by a two-out/two-run double by infielder Mike Gallego. Stewart earned his ALCS MVP trophy with eight dominant innings and the sweep was complete.

To the shock of the baseball world, this was the last great high point of the Oakland Dynasty. Stewart was rocked in Game 1 of the World Series at Cincinnati. Eckersley lost an extra-inning affair in Game 2. The offense never woke up. Oakland was swept.

These A’s still have a place in history—not many teams have won three straight pennants and Oakland went 12-1 in ALCS play over those three years. Their World Series title of 1989 came in a sweep. But 1990 denied them a place as a winner of multiple championships. The team slipped to 84 wins in 1991 and though they rebounded to win the AL West in 1992, they never returned to the World Series.

1975 Oakland A’s: The Last October For A Great Dynasty

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The Oakland A’s were the pre-eminent power in major league baseball in the first half of the 1970s. They won five straight AL West titles, three consecutive pennants and three straight World Series. The “three-peat” of 1972-74 is one of just four times in MLB history that such has been done, and the only time it’s been done by a franchise not named the New York Yankees. It was an amazing run, and the 1975 Oakland A’s was the organization’s last run into October before coming apart.

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Oakland was a balanced team, ranking second in the American League in both runs scored and ERA. The key players offensively were catcher Gene Tenace, who hit 29 home runs and whose plate discipline led him to draw 106 walks—he was doing it in the Moneyball way long before Billy Beane showed up in the Bay Area.

First baseman Joe Rudi hit 21 home runs, and the A’s had quality vets on the left side of the infield in third baseman Sal Bando and shortstop Bert Campaneris. There was speed in the outfield, with 20-year-old Claudell Washington hitting .308 and centerfielder Bill North posting a .373 OBP.

All of these players were solid contributors but in the pantheon of the Oakland A’s in the early 1970s, no star shone brighter than that of Reggie Jackson. The rightfielder had another big year in 1975, with 36 home runs and 104 RBIs.

The pitching staff had some great arms, but it was top-heavy. Vida Blue won 22 games with a 3.01 ERA and Ken Holtzman won 18 and had a 3.14 ERA. The top reliever was one of the best of his time, Rollie Fingers and his famous handlebar mustache. Fingers did whatever Oakland needed—he pitched 126 innings, won 10 games, saved 24 more and had a 2.98 ERA.

Blue, Holtzman and Fingers shouldered the load and made sure the A’s had the pitching to stay ahead of a talented and rising young Kansas City Royals team in the AL West.

Oakland played well early and was 29-20, though Kansas City was a half-game better on June 3, as the teams were the best two in the American League. The A’s then won 13 of 17 and a four-game series with the Royals during that stretch would be a turning point.

The teams split the first two of a four-game weekend set and were wrapping it up with a Sunday doubleheader. Oakland led 5-2 in the ninth inning, when a series of relievers—including Fingers—were unable to hold the lead and the Royals scored three times to tie it.

Kansas City then got an RBI single from young third baseman George Brett in the top of the 12th and was all set to get what, for a young team, would be an enormous win on the road. Or at least as enormous as any win can be in June.

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But the A’s showed veteran savvy. Tenace drew a walk. Jackson singled, but the A’s also got down to their final out. Bando then hit a double that brought in both runs and won the game 7-6. Oakland took the nightcap of the doubleheader 8-1. By the end of June they were eight games up, the Royals never got closer than 4 ½ and Oakland finished 98-64, seven games ahead at season’s end.

When a team wins a race by seven games, it’s difficult to say that one more out in a June doubleheader was the reason. But it was the turning point, the clear dividing line between when Kansas City had hope and when Oakland took over the race. And the game symbolically illustrates one young team that wasn’t quite ready and one group of proud veterans that weren’t yet ready to let go of their crown.

But the time for Oakland to let go of at least some of their dynasty was coming. They faced the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series, and while the games were good, the A’s lost three straight (the LCS was best-of-five up until 1985).

The Red Sox would go on to play a classic World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, but Oakland’s defeat did deprive baseball in one sense—the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati was the emerging new dynasty, ready to win back-to-back World Series. There would have been something historically appropriate about seeing them start that by ending the old dynasty that was the Oakland A’s.

Oakland’s dynasty would come to a complete halt in 1976, as Kansas City finally overtook them in the AL West. The era of free agency that began in ’76 was cruel, as the team broke up completely. But the A’s of 1971-75 were one of the best in the modern era.

1975 ALCS: Boston Ends The Oakland Dynasty

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The Oakland A’s won three straight World Series from 1972-74, and the 1975 ALCS marked their fifth straight appearance in postseason play. It also marked the end of the dynasty, as the Boston Red Sox ended the A’s great run with three-game sweep in what was then a best-of-five League Championship Series.

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The ALCS opened in Fenway Park on the first Saturday of October. The Red Sox sent veteran Cuban righthander Luis Tiant to the mound, while the A’s countered with 18-game winner Ken Holtzman. Tiant was Boston’s most clutch pitcher and Holtzman had a demonstrated record of big-game performance. Each were dialed in for Game 1 and an unearned run for the Red Sox in the second inning was the only score as the game went into the seventh.

Boston then broke through. Dwight Evans and Rick Burleson hit back-to-back doubles with one out. Juan Beniquez singled to drive in Burleson and it was 3-0. Consecutive steals by Beniquez put him on third base.

The Oakland defense was a train wreck in Game 1, with four errors and a simple fly ball to center was dropped by Bill North, allowing another run in. With two outs, Carlton Fisk singled and Fred Lynn drilled a two-run double. The close pitcher’s duel had turned into a party at Fenway, and the game ended 7-1.

Oakland might not have played well in Game 1, and it might have been they—rather than a mostly young Boston team with precious few players tied to the 1967 pennant winning team that was the last time they experienced October—who looked like a deer in the headlights. But the A’s veterans regrouped and struck early in Game 2.

Third baseman Sal Bando doubled with two outs, and then Reggie Jackson homered to give the A’s a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning. Their outstanding lefty, Vida Blue, was on the mound and the A’s added another run in the fourth on consecutive doubles from Joe Rudi and Claudell Washington.

Boston began coming back in the bottom of that same inning. Denny Doyle singled and then Red Sox veteran, future Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, homered to cut the lead to 3-2. Fisk doubled and Lynn singled, resulting in an early hook for Blue. Even though Rico Petrocelli hit into a double play, Fisk came in through the backdoor, the score was tied and Blue was out of the game.

Oakland still had the best reliever in the game, Rollie Fingers, in an era when you went to such a pitcher early in and often—like the fifth inning of Game 2. Fingers came in after Cecil Cooper hit a leadoff double, and escaped the jam, with help from Jackson, gunned Cooper at the plate when he attempted to score on a sac fly.

The Red Sox were able to chip away at Fingers though. Yastrzemski doubled with one out in the sixth and scored the lead run on a base hit by Fisk. Petrocelli, not known for his power, homered in the seventh. And in the eighth, Beniquez singled, was bunted over, and scored on a single by Lynn.

While Fingers struggled, Boston’s Dick Drago was getting it done. The Red Sox’ top reliever tossed three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and the Red Sox won 6-3.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1975 MLB SEASON
All the best teams
Game-by-game narratives of each postseason series

Oakland still had the remainder of the ALCS on their home field and Game 3 would provide more than its share of back-and-forth on Tuesday.

The Oakland pitching staff was top-heavy in its reliance on Holtzman, Blue and Fingers, and the Game 3 pitching decision illustrated it—with the season on the line, Holtzman would make the start on two days’ rest.

Boston made an early mistake, when they got runners on first and second with one out in the top of the first—Doyle tried to tag and take third base on Jackson after a fly ball out. Doyle was gunned down. Making the final out of an inning at third base is a faux pas in any event, but it’s even more so, when the league MVP—Lynn—is coming up to bat. The game stayed scoreless through three innings.

With two outs in the top of the fourth, the A’s defense again helped the Red Sox. Washington, a 20-year-old leftfielder, committed a two-base error off the bat of Lynn and Petrocelli picked up the RBI single. In the top of the fifth, after a double by Burleson, Boston got another big two-out RBI single, this one from Doyle.

After a base hit from Yastrzemski, Holtzman was removed. Fisk hit an RBI single, Yaz moved up to third and eventually scored on a wild pitch. It was 4-0 and the Red Sox could start to at least sniff a pennant.

Oakland got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, but Boston starter, 18-game winner Rick Wise, struck out Jackson with a man aboard to keep it a 4-1 game. The Red Sox added another two-out RBI single, this one from Cooper in the eighth, to make it 5-1.

There were six outs to go, but this wouldn’t be the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox if everything went smoothly. The A’s fought back in their own half of the eighth.

A single and an error set up RBI base hits by both Bando and Jackson, the two Oakland hitters who swung the bat well in this ALCS. The lead was cut to 5-3, there was only one out and Rudi was coming to the plate.

Drago came on, and induced Rudi to hit a ground ball to short, where Burleson started a 6-4-3 double play. All of New England could exhale and Drago closed the door in the ninth. Boston was going back to the World Series.

There was no MVP in LCS play at this time. There’s also no doubt that it would have Yastrzemski, with his .455 batting average over three games, would have won the award. Yaz was now 35-years-old and his push to be a part of the first Boston team to win a World Series since 1918 was a great story in of itself and that would of undoubtedly driven media voting.

I’m not saying it would have been a bad choice, but since we have some historical liberty here, I’m going to say that Drago would have been the best choice for ALCS MVP in 1975. He pitched 4.2 IP of shutout baseball. He outdueled Fingers in the critical final frames of Game 2, the point at which the series really swung. And Drago closed the door in a very anxious situation at the end of Game 3.

Baseball fans would not get to see the Oakland A’s dynasty take on the Big Red Machine in the World Series, but the coming seven-game battle the Red Sox would stage with the Cincinnati Reds more than made up for it. Of course Boston came up a run short in that one, but at least they were again giving New England a taste of World Series baseball.

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