It was actually kind of eerie last July 31st when Yoenis Cespedes was traded. Upon hearing the news, knowing that the A's were leading the division with baseball's best record, my mother was very matter of fact about it. "Bad move. Not only won't the A's win the World Series, they won't even make the playoffs."
As the season unraveled, Blogfathermom insisted that the only way the A's could reverse the bad karma was for Billy Beane to be dropped into a volcano. Unfortunately, criminal laws and even just the fact that I can't lift the man, made that solution nigh impossible.