The Oakland Athletics are sitting at the bottom of the AL West 34 games into the season, but that doesn’t mean fans should just throw in the towel on the year. Here are three reasons why A's fans should be optimistic about the rest of the season:
3) The offense is better than expected
The A's had a lot of problems scoring runs last year after trading away slugger Yoenis Cespedes, but that hasn't been the case this year. Stephen Vogt and Josh Reddick are both hitting over .320, and they seem poised to lead the offense all season. Oakland is batting .260 as a team (11th in MLB) and rank in the top five in runs scored, showing that their offense has actually become something they can rely on.
2) Pitching will improve
Oakland's pitching was supposed to be one of their stronger points this season, but that hasn't been the case for far. Their team ERA of 4.17 ranks in the bottom third of the league as Jesse Hahn and Drew Pomeranz haven't provided any depth to Oakland's starting rotation. It won't take much longer for Bob Melvin to find a starter and bullpen rotation that will work consistently, and when he does, the wins will follow.
1) There’s still 125 games left
Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for Oakland this season, yet they’re still only nine games out of first place (behind the Astros, who we all know will falter at some point). The A's have too much talent to keep playing this poorly, and there’s still plenty of time for them to make up the ground they’ve lost.
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