Our Oakland Futility Watch checks in today with the bright news that the Oakland Athletics beat the cheating San Francisco Giants twice in a row at the Coliseum over the weekend—after the Los Angeles Dodgers shredded the A’s in a three-game sweep just prior down in Southern California. Comparative scores mean very little in any sport, but it was fun watching the S.F. bandwagon whine about all this.

That being said, the Athletics are now 32-80 on the year for a .286 winning percentage. This is a pace for 46-plus wins for the full season, and the A’s really should be shooting to at least tie the 2003 Detroit Tigers in the quest to avoid infamy. The Kansas City Royals are just 36-77 right now, so Oakland still trails them for the worst record in MLB by 3.5 games. However, that is just a footnote, really, despite the 2024 draft impact.

So, how did the Athletics turn it around this weekend? They lost to the Dodgers in three straight by a combined 25-6 margin, yet the A’s were able to reverse course and drop the Giants in Oakland by a combined 10-7 score. It wasn’t just about switching scenery, either, although the Athletics are better at home (17-39) this year than on the road (15-41). Sometimes, baseball is just a funny sport, and stuff happens.

Either way, the A’s improved to 13-24 in interleague games this season: last year, the team was just 5-15 in the same matchups. Oakland’s continued problems are primary the division rivals in Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Texas. Even though the Angels finally dropped below .500 for the year over the last week, this is still a division with three teams in the Top 6 of the American League. How are the A’s to overcome that?

Payroll-wise, the other four teams in the division also are big spenders; three of them are in the Top 8 in payroll, with Seattle coming in at No. 18 overall. Of course, the A’s are No. 30 this season in terms of spending—while the Royals are 25th in MLB. Certainly, Oakland is not getting enough credit for its spending acumen compared to Kansas City, which is embarrassing itself and its rich traditions.

All this being said, it’s a 50-game “sprint” to the finish of the regular season now: The A’s need to go at least 11-39 the rest of the way to tie those 2003 Tigers for modern futility. That’s just a .220 winning percentage; if the Athletics keep up their current pace or continue to improve, they’ll finish closer to 50 wins on the season—still terrible but at least not historically humiliating. That’s always a low threshold, but … still.

We will visit the Coliseum twice this week to see Oakland in action against the Rangers and their $247M payroll. The $59M A’s may not win with us in the stands, but it certainly won’t be for a lack of effort from the players on the field: bless their hearts.