After losing two straight to the Mariners to start off this 19-23 season, it has been well over a month since the A’s have played against their division rivals. It was an inauspicious start to what has been an inauspicious season to date. With the rest of the baseball world taking off, it felt a lot like the A’s plane was grounded indefinitely.
The Mariners, as it turns out, took off faster than anybody else, winning an absolutely silly thirteen of their first fifteen games. The team was hitting more home runs than anyone and the veteran pitching staff was holding its own against tough competition.