The A's Have Won Their Last Three Straight Games All On Walk-Offs
Yesterday, we woke up with Miguel Tejada hitting a walk-off home run in 2002. That was also the first of three consecutive walk-off wins for the A’s. But that year, those three consecutive walk-off wins were their 18th, 19th and 20th consecutive wins overall for the eventual division champs.
Little bit different here in 2017. These three consecutive walk-off wins for Oakland are their first, second and third consecutive wins overall. At 15-17, things could be much worse for this A’s team that’s in a three-way tie for second place. But when you take a peek at that -35 run differential, which is by far the worst in the AL West, and tied with the Royals for the worst in the league, then you can imagine that this team is probably not destined to stay in second place, challenge for first place, or be anywhere near those…places.
Being one of three teams, along with the Mariners and Angels, that’s currently tied for second place in the division, and a weak division at that, the A’s have scored the fewest runs and allowed the most out of the second place teams, hence the shitty run differential. But to their credit, they’ve played halfway decent at home, which is obviously where they’ve hauled off these three consecutive walk-off wins. They’ve gotten some major pop once again from Khris Davis, who already has 10 homers this year, and Yonder Alonso, who’s right behind Davis with nine of his own.
Not a whole lot was made out of the Brewers trading Davis to the A’s prior to the 2016 season, but since he was acquired by Oakland, he leads the majors with 52 homers, and averages a home run once every 12.83 at-bats, which is technically the best in the majors. If you wanna count Eric Thames, who averages a home run once every 9 at-bats, then feel free. But when looking at the guys from last year into this year, Davis has been at the top of the top in terms of hitting bombs.
They’ve also gotten really good starting pitching from Jesse Hahn, Andrew Triggs, and Kendall Graveman, who have combined for a 3.01 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 82 strikeouts in 104.2 innings, while all being between the ages of 26 and 28. Not exactly taking me back to the days of Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder, but that’s a pretty solid threesome at the head of their rotation, and that’s with Sonny Gray giving them next to nothing since 2015. Imagine if he can ever return to form.