Well, that was a clinical end to a superb season -- exactly the kind of gall-and-tonic last-call drink that the Oakland Athletics have been made to swallow over the past 20 years.
Having done more with fewer dollars and less expectations in 2018, the A’s believed they are the equal of the game’s biggest organizational monoliths, and at some point, they might be. But not Wednesday, not after being smothered 7-2 by the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card Game.
The A's needed just nine pitches from Liam Hendriks and Aaron Judge’s violent response to see a hole forcefully punched through their bullpenning strategy. They had to experience the tire-fire sixth inning against Fernando Rodney and the seemingly indomitable Blake Treinen, taking the 2-0 game and tripling it in size.
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SIGN UP HERE Just as damning, they couldn’t make contact when they needed it, except in a fleeting moment when Khris Davis Khris-Davised a fastball from Zack Britton in the eighth inning for both of Oakland’s runs. They had five hits, and missed the only two real opportunities they had because of overpowering work from Luis Severino and then Dellin Betances.
In sum, the A's were beaten in all the traditional ways by a very traditional foe. They did more than they should've had a right to expect, given their massive pitching shortage, but in the end, they got what teams trying to trick their way through the postseason typically get.
The backhand of accomplished orthodoxy.
This wasn’t a failure of newfangled strategy. Neither Bob Melvin nor Billy Beane can be culprit-shamed for starting Hendriks, or for choosing Lou Trivino to pitch the second rather than the sixth. As alluring as second-guessing the manager can be this time of year, starting Mike Fiers, Edwin Jackson or Trevor Cahill instead of Hendriks, or using Jeurys Familia rather than Rodney to start the sixth, would have changed nothing about Oakland’s lack of offense.
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There was no truly pivotal moment that baseball fabulists like to seize upon as the defining moment that could have changed the game (the Aaron Hicks double after the Judge double to start the sixth? Come on, you’re all better than that). This was just a game like thousands of others, where the team that scores first and doesn't screw up slowly but surely boa-constrictors the other team.
All we really learned, in honesty, is that in the playoffs, talent matters more than strategy, and the more moves a manager has to make in a game, the greater the chance that one or more of those decisions will turn out badly. It’s simple percentages. The A’s weren't out-thought -- they were outplayed by a Yankees team with better and deeper pitching and a more potent lineup.
It happens. A lot.
Not that the loss won’t sting. There never will be the version of the tired old hackery of “Can you reflect on what a great season you had” that won’t smack of condescension. The A’s were brilliant to get where they got, and that's a jumping-off point for 2019 to be sure, but the end of 2018 is what they will remember, just as the 2014 team cannot let go of the wild-card loss to the Royals, or the 2012 and 2013 teams forget Justin Verlander working them in Game 5 of the ALDS, or the Tigers sweeping them in 2006 ALCS.
And neither will promises of “you’re just starting a long run of success” soothe. Nobody believes that success is guaranteed, and the A’s have a wobbly history in keeping good things going when they hit an obstacle. Beane promises different this time, and maybe he's as good as his word, but that’s not the way to bet until shown otherwise.
The A’s are like other good teams -- they believe until forced not to believe any more. Wednesday, they were so forced. There are glories to properly reflect upon and a future that looks a hell of a lot better than it did a year ago, but there's also a lesson to absorb delivered from a team well-positioned to inflict it.
That lesson: The brave new world of baseball isn't yet here, and having the better and more powerful team still is the best metric of all.