Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay reacts after the last ground ball rotation practice during the Spring Training at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. It was early last October when Oakland A’s general manager David Forst was asked to assess the performance of his manager.
Forst praised Kotsay for his ability to teach the game to a roster that was full of first-timers and old-timers.Not a single member of the A’s ranked in the 100 most valuable players in MLB last year, according to FanGraphs. Their most valuable player? Rookie Zack Gelof, who only played in 69 of the team’s 162 games.
The fans felt the opposite way; they weren’t even showing up. The A’s averaged less than 11,000 fans per game for the third consecutive year, a steep plummet from the nearly 25,000 they averaged just 10 years ago. The players knew what was going on. They were playing in a ballpark that was crumbling, without facilities that came close in quality to just about every other team’s.
Instead, they knocked off the Rays in an exciting 2-1 victory, extending their winning streak to seven in what was the highlight of the season for many.Outfielder Tony Kemp said, “We’ve been gelling with each other. That chemistry takes a minute.” After starting the year 10-45 with an 11-game losing streak, the A’s finished the year 40-67 over their final 107 games, more than doubling their winning percentage from the first 55.
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