2024 season: Eliminated on Sept. 15, 4th in AL West
Let’s take a look at the season that was for the 2024 Oakland Athletics, the questions the team must address this winter and the early outlook for 2025.
Read more: 2024 MLB offseason previews: White Sox, Angels, Marlins and more
Things that went right
As the Gin Blossoms once said, “If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down.”
The A’s are in a strange position, as they will finish 2024 with one of baseball’s worst records, but they might have exceeded expectations. Many prognosticators pegged this team to finish last overall and lose 100 games, and the A’s will comfortably avoid both fates.
Brent Rooker is a big reason for the team’s relative respectability. The 29-year-old reached the 30-homer plateau for the second straight year, but this time around, he boosted his on-base rate and ranked among baseball’s OPS leaders throughout the season. Rooker was thrilled that the team didn’t deal him at the trade deadline.
Mason Miller also ascended to star status this season. After previously working as a starter, Miller spent all of 2024 in the bullpen and immediately became one of baseball’s best closers. The 26-year-old gained national attention when he struck out Shohei Ohtani and picked up the win in the All-Star Game.
Although no one else dominated on the level of Rooker and Miller, players such as JJ Bleday, Shea Langeliers, Lawrence Butler and Joey Estes had stretches in which they showed exciting potential.
Things that went wrong
Expectations were so low for this group that few members were able to disappoint. That said, Zack Gelof was one man from whom much more was expected. The second baseman logged an exciting 69-game stretch as a rookie in 2023, producing an .840 OPS, 14 homers and 14 steals, but he never got on track this year, as struggles with strikeouts silenced his skill set.
Esteury Ruiz is the other player who fell well short of expectations. After stealing 67 bases in 2023, he seemed like a lock to be the team’s center fielder and a possible option atop the lineup. Instead, Ruiz was optioned to the minors for a couple of weeks in early April and spent all summer rehabbing a wrist injury.
Beyond Gelof and Ruiz, another disappointment in Oakland was the failure of its young starting pitchers to assert themselves. There weren’t…