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Baseball MVP Awards

The Oakland A's won three awards... so why didn't they win the World Series?

By Joe de Wolk

Summer is long gone, and baseball with it. We are full into the glories and trials of the NFL season, and charging head on towards that famous Sunday in January where every sports fan worships at the church of football.

But let us reminisce for a moment. Last week Major League Baseball began its process of releasing player awards, starting with the Cy Young (award given to the best pitcher in each league). The two most controversial of the awards — the American League Most Valuable Player (MVP) and the American League Cy Young — were the focus here in the Bay Area because Oakland A’s players were up for both of them.

The American League MVP was a contest between the best player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez of the Rangers (otherwise know as A-Rod) and Oakland’s very own Miguel Tejada. A-Rod clearly had a better season, but played for a last place team. Tejada, on the other hand, was forced to fill the shoes of last year’s departed MVP Jason Giambi. Tejada moments became commonplace when the A’s won 20 straight games, the longest streak in baseball history with wins 18 and 19 ending with game-winning hits by Tejada. To make the story short, Tejada won, by a fair margin. He was voted the MVP in the American League.

The Cy Young award boiled down to a contest between Oakland’s own Barry Zito and the Boston Red Sox’s Pedro Martinez. Martinez is unquestionably the most dominant pitcher in baseball, when healthy. Now it may seem as though the contest is decided, but Martinez being healthy is a big if. The deciding factors became how the voters weighed different stats. Zito led the league in wins with a 23-5 record, and placed third in ERA and strikeouts. Martinez, on the other hand, finished with a 20-4 record, but also the lowest ERA in the league and the most strikeouts. In the end, Zito took it home.

And the awards didn’t stop coming to Oakland. Eric Chavez won both the Gold Glove (best defensive player at a position) and Silver Slugger (best offensive player at a position) at third base. So, with the best third baseman, the MVP, and the Cy Young, why didn’t the A’s go anywhere this season? And more importantly, can we expect a repeat failure next year?

Maybe not now that some changes have been made. Recently Art Howe, the 2002 manager of the A’s, signed with the Mets. No compensation, they just gave him away. I, for one, not upset. Oakland needs a change if it ever wants to actually win a postseason series. Art Howe might not have been the problem, but he certainly wasn’t the solution either. What have the A’s got to lose? Only regular season wins, wins that mean nothing if a team cannot succeed in the postseason.

During the playoffs the A’s lacked the willpower, the explosive attitude that carried the Angels to the status of World Champs. The A’s seemed complacent during the postseason. They didn’t play like they wanted it. And I’m sure they regret it. A’s fans everywhere are pissed, pissed that their team was the best in baseball, but didn’t even get past the pushover Twins, a series that was considered automatic.

If you disagreed with the decision to let Howe go, let me offer you a few words of baseball advice: defer to Billy, always. Always. Billy Beane is the general manager of the Athletics, and not just a baseball genius, but easily the king of all baseball geniuses. He is the man that has built this team into an annual force in rivalry with the Yankees despite only a third of the money. Look at the track record: every thing he does is right. By definition. Whatever he does, it becomes right just because he did it. Ok?

So back to the question at hand. Failure cannot be expected, but A’s fans have to start looking at their team through a different lens: The Giants Lens. A’s fans have been expecting wins for the last three years, and for the most part they have gotten them in abundance. But not in the postseason. When it counts. So take it with a grain of salt. The A’s are on the fast track to becoming perennial postseason flops, and only change can save them.

For the A’s and the Giants, it has never been a question of talent. Both teams have always had the raw player abilities to take it all home any season. The big question mark in the back of Bay Area baseball fans’ minds is will that talent reveal itself in all its MVP/Cy Young/Gold Glove/Silver Slugger glory. And since Art Howe wasn’t getting it done, maybe the new coach Ken Macha can. Maybe next year is the year. Maybe next year the vicious cycle breaks, and the A’s finally get past the first round. Guess we’ll have to wait until next October to find out.

— Joe De Wolk has already erased the 2002 World Series from his memory, forever.