The Oakland Futility Watch is proving itself to be pointless this week, as the Oakland Athletics have won 8 of their last 13 games—including a home sweep of the sagging Los Angeles Angels over the weekend at Coliseum. A few weeks ago, we cautiously projected a final season-win total of 47 victories, but as of now, the A’s have a 42-95 record with 25 games to play this season. Break up the A’s, baby, because they’re on fire!

In fact, Oakland has a 3-0 record this month already, thanks to the sweep of the Halos—much to the chagrin of their obnoxious fans that crowded the Coliseum for a total of 38,207 paid attendance for the three-game set. We were there Friday night, and it was as much fun as we have had all season in person at an Athletics game. We got some cool socks to celebrate Glenn Burke, too. Everyone should have some!

So, with 42 wins now, the A’s have passed the 1962 New York Mets, while they need just two victories in their final 25 games to pass the 2003 Detroit Tigers. There is little need for a “futility watch” anymore, unofficially. Once Oakland wins two more games, it will be officially unnecessary. However, we will continue to report on the Athletics’ failures and successes for the remaining four weeks of the season.

To recap, though, the A’s won a game in Seattle last week to claim their first win all year against the Mariners, and that put Oakland one win ahead of our projections. Then, the Athletics secured the first home sweep of the year with the crazy comeback win over the Angels on Sunday, where the A’s did not have a single hit through the first five innings as they trailed 3-0. But then something shocking happened.

Remember when we lamented the lack of a “killer instinct” last week? Well, shut that front door. Oakland’s offense erupted for 4 runs in the sixth inning on the way to a 10-6 victory that sent the Angels fans running for the exits, whining about how their team got swept by the “worst team” in the major leagues. Well, don’t look now, but the Kansas City Royals are now the “worst team” in MLB with a 42-96 record. Eat that, people.

Alas, the A’s are no longer the bottom dwellers of professional baseball—at least for today. We will see what happens over the next 12 games, all against playoff contenders. Oakland is on a roll right now, but this could be a true test of the team’s mettle for the next two weeks. Maybe the A’s go winless; maybe they go .500 for this stretch. It doesn’t really matter much, anymore: the team is not going down in MLB history.

It’s a shame the local media couldn’t be bothered to cover the Athletics home game in person on Sunday, either. The mediots take the wrong tact with the facts, constantly; maybe it’s because they don’t care to even show up to do their job correctly. But here’s the irony: clearly, the Athletics are not a money maker for the mediots, so why do the mediots then expect the owner(s) to lose money and smile the whole time? Doh …

Life isn’t difficult to figure out if you’re honest with the facts and yourself, folks. Long live the 2023 A’s!