The Oakland A’s have a 25-17 record through mid-May, putting them first place in the AL West division and tying them for the MLB lead in wins. They also have a negative run differential, having been outscored by their opponents to the tune of eight runs.
It would seem like only one of those statements can be sustainable. Either they’ll keep winning games and their run differential will improve accordingly over time, or they’ll continue getting outscored and it won’t always keep working out this well and their record will drop. And since run differential tends to be considered a more predictive measure, it’s easy to see this as a red flag for the green-and-gold.