“If the A’s didn’t have bad luck, they wouldn’t have any luck at all.” The poor Oakland Athletics, the second worst team in MLB in 2022 and the worst in 2023, chose the wrong moment to turn to hot garbage — prior to 2022 you always drafted in reverse order of record, but here came a lottery full of balls whose names seemed to be “not Oakland”.
And so the A’s were given not the 2nd, but the 6th pick in the 2023 draft and then not the 1st, but the 4th selection in 2024. And we the fans griped, moaned, and shook our fists mightily at the clouds that listened, none of whom happened to be named Rob Manfred.