As the adage, “good pitching beats good hitting” proves to be the key to winning seasons, the Athletics have shown that having good pitching staffs have led to post season appearances through their past 48 seasons in Oakland. The winning teams of the 70’s, late 80’s , early 2000s, and even 2012-2014 regularly showed that having exemplary pitchers would lead to division championships and more.
One thing overlooked is that those same winning teams had major players at third base that were superior hitters and fielders. Sal Bando, Carney Lansford, Eric Chavez and Josh Donaldson all played significant roles for those championship teams.