Not too long ago, the Oakland Athletics looked to be on the upswing, winning 97 games in back-to-back seasons (2018-2019) and taking the AL West crown during the truncated 2020 season. Despite their success, however, they never made it out of the Wild Card round, continuing to play second fiddle to the Houston Astros in a division that has been locked down for more than half a decade now. Because of this, following an 86-76 2021 that saw them finish behind the Astros and Mariners, Oakland decided to blow it all up.
Starting in the winter of 2021-2022, the Athletics have since shipped out Matt Olson, Chris Bassitt, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, and Sean Murphy.