System: Xbox 360
Difficulty: All-Star (Will change to Legend if All-Star becomes too easy)
Settings: All Default Settings i.e. Innings, Playoffs, etc. and Updated Rosters
Introduction
Hey everyone, so this is my first attempt at an MLB dynasty. I haven't been following baseball for the past 4-5 years or so, but I'm trying to get back into it and I decided to stick with the team I grew up liking as a kid, and also thanks to those who voted in helping me decide who to choose, The Oakland A's. I plan to play the full 162 game season with 9 innings and will update through each 3-4 game series I complete. I won't do spring training for the first year, but I will definitely after that and after the draft. I will keep tabs here and there on Triple-A. I wish I could make it as detailed and good as KHarmo88 with his Pirates chise...I just can't measure to that haha, but I will update who I grab in the draft and free agency and all that. So enjoy and feel free to leave comments as we go through the season.
A Look Back to Last Season
Last season the Oakland A's made a tremendous end of the year run to make the playoffs winning 9 of their last 11 games clinching their division one game ahead of the Rangers. By the way, they swept the Rangers in their last 3 games of the season which ended up clinching their division. In the playoffs they played the eventual World Series contending Detroit Tigers where they went down 0-2, tied it back up only to get shutout 6-0 in a game 5 loss. This young team is showing promise and we can't wait to see what they do this next season.
The Oakland A's
Why are the fans calling it Beanetown when that name is for Boston? Look closer and you'll notice there's an extra E at the end of Bean. Yes, this is for the GM Billy Beane who is most famous for the movie Moneyball where Brad Pitt plays as Beane and how his tactics made his team go from nothing to greatness. He has completely turned this organization around and now Oakland seems to be a playoff contending team throughout the next 5 years, that is, if they don't trade away their talent. Taking a look back from last year, we can see three main hitters for the Oakland Athletics. Their offense mainly consists of Yoenis Cespedes, Josh Reddick and Josh Donaldson. Donaldson is coming off of his second year in the MLB to standout with major upside. Cespedes and Reddick were the main hitters from last year and look to provide that again as well this year. Looking at their rookies, first baseman Nate Freiman is a giant of a man. At 6'8" 250 lbs, this guy is not fun to pitch against. The pitching staff is getting better and is very young with an average age of about 25 years old. It's going to be interesting how the draft will go for the A's. They could possibly trade or maybe draft a better catcher or second baseman. We will see how they fair with the contending Angels and Rangers this year as those two teams seem to be the main contenders this year for the AL West division title. The A's came in with a couple of trades this offseason. They traded SS Adam Rosales to the Milwaukee Brewers for 1B Mat Gamel. Also, the A's got rid of Bartolo Colon and received LR Matt Albers from the Cleveland Indians.
Depth Chart
Oakland Athletics Depth Chart - 2013
- Catcher
- John Jaso
- Derek Norris
- First Base
- Brandon Moss
- Mat Gamel
- Nate Freiman
- Second Base
- Scott Sizemore
- Third Base
- Josh Donaldson
- Shortstop
- Jed Lowrie
- Left Field
- Coco Crisp
- Seth Smith
- Chris Young
- Center Field
- Yoenis Cespedes
- Right Field
- Josh Reddick
- Starting Pitcher
- Brett Anderson
- Dan Straily
- Tom Milone
- A.J. Griffin
- Jarrod Parker
- Relief Pitcher
- Ryan Cook
- Sean Doolittle
- Jerry Blevins
- Pat Neshek
- Fernando Rodriguez
- Jesse Chavez
- Closer
- Grant Balfour
- Designated Hitter
- Brandon Moss
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