It’s the first pair of games in the last actual Bay Area series.
Okay, late posting this because I’ve been hooked on all the trades. The MLB Trade Deadline is about to happen and so nobody’s going to read this post. Free journaling space!
I have found over the years that a lot of Giants fans viscerally hate the A’s, just as many A’s fans would love it if somehow the world was “cleansed” of the Giants and their fans, which is not really something I experienced growing up. But as the have-have not divide between the two franchises grew, I guess it makes sense that the scrappy underdog would grow a big chip on its shoulder and the aggressor that bullied its way to media dominance in the region would knife the entity that helped it gain its stature.
This is all a silly notion, of course, because there should only be a few teams that people outside their cities should genuinely hate on a human level. First, the Dallas Cowboys. Second, the St. Louis Cardinals. Then third is a take your pick — the Los Angeles Dodgers? The Lakers? But the A’s? There’s punching down and then there’s being a sore winner.
The Giants might not have had the history of success the A’s organization had or even a cool movie made after them, but they killed the A’s. The A’s are dead. And no part of it was fun so why bother dancing on the grave? A’s fans aren’t free agent fans, they’re turning away from Major League Baseball entirely. Sure, the A’s might snag some Giants-loving Sacramento fans when they play there “temporarily,” but it’s intended to be short-lived. The Giants are now the kings of Northern California.
So why doesn’t it feel like it?
John Fisher’s meddling is all about doing financial fracking on the public trust so he can live forever thanks to money. All he demands is that the team constantly cuts costs. The Giants’ 50,000 owners or however many are in the group have a laundry list of conflicting demands, and so we get this Frankenstein’s monster of a project. San Francisco Giants Baseball Club LLC’s defeat of the A’s is pyrrhic victory.
Anyway, as tonight kicks off the final Bridge Series ever, let’s do a bird’s eye view of the two teams. The A’s have been solid in interleague play this year, with a 14-13 record and +23 run differential so far. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants are 11-16 with a -8 run differential.
They’re also in the midst of a 16-game stretch against sub-.500 teams but they’re facing a team that’s not only their regional rival that’s forever won the underdog medal, they’re up against an A’s team that has been really very good in July, with a 14-8 record and +43 run differential. The Giants are basically strategically selling while hoping to contend, but do they have what it takes to beat this A’s team?
The winner of this Bridge Series wins it forever! (Maybe. The NorCal series doesn’t have the same ring to it if they decide to rebrand it next year.)
Series details
Who: Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
When: Tuesday (6:45pm PT), Wednesday (6:45pm PT)
National broadcasts: None.
Projected starters
Tuesday: J.P. Sears vs. Robbie Ray
Wednesday: Ross Stripling vs. Logan Webb
Where they stand
Athletics, 44-64 (5th in ALW, -14.5 WC), 449 RS / 514 RA | Last 10 games: 7-3
Giants, 53-55 (4th in NLW, -4.0 WC), 477 RS / 493 RA | Last 10 games: 6-4
Athletics to watch
J.P. Sears: Now, I can think of few things that are funnier than a baseball team feeling confident after a four-game sweep running into an absolute buzzsaw immediately thereafter. Somehow, the Giants have never faced J.P. Sears before, which obviously gives him the advantage. They’re now without Jorge Soler, who was on a hot streak, so it’s going to be a huge test of Marco Luciano, Tyler Fitzgerald, and Heliot Ramos to see if they can battle a lefty they’ve never seen.
The Astros took him to task in his last start (9 hits, 7 ER allowed in 6 IP) and five starts prior to that Minnesota tagged him for 8 in 1.1 innings, but in between? 22.1 IP in 4 starts with 24 K against 4 walks and a 2.42 ERA (4.14 FIP). Those lineups: Arizona, Boston, and the Angels twice. Boston and Arizona both have better lineups than the Giants (both have a team wRC+ of 108) and both of those starts (11.2 IP total with 4 ER allowed on 14 K) came on the road.
Brent Rooker: The A’s signaled that they are reluctant to trade Rooker, and that’s probably for the best as he’s been white hot this month. In 22 games, .413/.479/.850 with 10 home runs, 28 RBI, 5 doubles, and 11 walks against just 17 Ks. On just hitting alone (his defense is atrocious), his 169 wRC+ on the season makes him the 5th-most valuable hitter in MLB and 3rd in the AL behind Judge & Soto.
Lawrence Butler & Max Schuemann: The 24-year old Butler (OF) was the A’s 6th round pick in 2018 and made his MLB debut last season (42 games). Schuemann (IF/OF) was their 20th round pick in 2018 who made his MLB debut this year at 27 years old. This isn’t quite the same situation as Heliot Ramos & Tyler Fitzgerald coming into their own (especially since both made their debuts last season), but the impact is similar.
Butler has hung out in right field and at the plate is 31-for-82 in July (22 games, 89 PA), slashing .378/.427/.829 (1.256 OPS) with 9 home runs, 6 doubles, and 2 triples (18K/7BB). Schuemann’s the shortstop and in July he’s at .338/.434/.493 (.927 OPS) in 22 games (84 PA), with 3 home runs and 2 doubles to go with basically a 2:1 strikeouts to walk (20:11).
The entire A’s team has been pesky this month, and these two especially are a big reason.
Giants to watch
Marco Luciano: With Jorge Soler jettisoned, the DH spot is at least for now Luciano’s. As Brady wrote up yesterday, he’s really come into his own down in Triple-A. In July, he’s slashing .270/.413/.514 with 6 home runs and an impressive 1:1 strikeouts to walks (18:18).
Ryan Walker: Luke Jackson’s departure makes space for Spencer Bivens and/or Randy Rodriguez more often, but let’s not forget that at one point Jackson was supposed to be a leverage reliever. That job was quickly claimed by Ryan Walker last year and he hasn’t let up… only… he sort of has of late. Now, there’s a very good reason for that: he’s been overused. His 54 appearances lead the league. Last year, he made 49 appearances total. Heading into July, he had a 2.09 ERA against a 2.04 FIP. In July (12.2 IP), he has a 3.55 ERA (thanks to that bad appearance against the Blue Jays) but also a 5.29 FIP. Not good, but the Giants have to hope that he can get over the hump here, because they’ll need him down the stretch.
Tyler Fitzgerald: As much as this became Heliot Ramos’s team, Tyler Fitzgerald has the chance to become the third heat. Ramos-Webb-Fitzgerald is a situation that’s right there for the taking, and this is one of the rare times when the Giants have a bunch of raw young talent breaking out to match up against the A’s raw young talent that’s breaking out.