OK, 2015 wasn't their year. No, Newbob, the A's aren't going make a run and challenge for the second wild card and you know it -- your job is to put off using the term "spoilers" as long as is mathematically possible, but in your heart you know full well that the A's will spend the last 1/3 of the season strictly as spoilers -- for example last night they spoiled things for the Angels.
The A's brass could be doing a lot more to look ahead while still trying to compete. They have, now, a lot of players they need to learn more about, along with quite a few players they know far too much about, and in many cases the wrong players are in key roles.