With only five wins through their first 26 games of the 2023 season, the Oakland Athletics are looking more like a Triple-A team than a major league squad.
The team’s offense ranks in the bottom 10 of virtually every statistic and the team’s pitching is historically bad. Through 26 games, the pitching staff has posted a 8.01 ERA, allowing 212 runs in 227 innings. The team is on pace to break the all-time record of 1,252 runs allowed, set by the Cleveland Spiders in 1899.
After shipping out franchise cornerstones Matt Chapman and Matt Olson in 2022 — as well as Sean Murphy this offseason — the team has essentially been ripped of all their major talent. The return on those trades was questionable when the deals were made and they look even worse now.