Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
On April 7, the A’s did something that, to that point, seemed inconceivable: they won a baseball game.
Oakland’s extra-innings win over the Dodgers must have felt like a massive relief for a team off to an 0-6 start—tying the franchise mark for worst in team history—but it did little to alter the club’s 2021 forecast. FanGraphs pegged the A’s with a one-in-three chance of making the playoffs on Opening Day, a number that cratered to 9.