The Oakland Futility Watch in 2024 checks in every 10-14 days or so to see how our favorite dislocated MLB team is doing, and the last time we looked, the Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas Athletics were doing alright. That was 9 days ago, and since then? The A’s have lost 9 of 10 games to sink like a rock in the standings and the sabermetric rankings. The dam has broken with injuries for the pitchers and slumps for hitters. *sigh*

As we noted earlier, too, the challenge with low payrolls is the risk you run for less-than-optimal performance—not just from the people you’re paying a lot of money to, but also to just any player you’re relying on to produce (or even stay healthy). Throw in the fact that MLB doesn’t care if you lose to cheaters, and it’s a hard road to climb for a low-payroll team to succeed in professional baseball. It’s just the way it is.

[Editor’s Note: Why is it that when a pitcher is ejected for cheating mid-game, the offending player’s team doesn’t immediately forfeit the game? It makes no sense that the pitcher can cheat for 4 innings before getting caught with no reparations to the team that was cheated for those innings. The violated cannot get those innings back, after all, to be re-played. Just a common-sense rule change would alleviate this.]

Since beating the Miami Marlins, 20-4, on May 4 to reach .500 on the season (17-17), Oakland actually has lost 13 of its last 15 games—including the last 8 in a row as of tonight. The A’s have scored just 17 runs in the losing streak, while surrendering 49 runs to 3 different opponents, all on the road. In fact, Oakland went 1-9 on this road trip through Seattle, Houston, and Kansas City. The team had been playing .500 ball away, too.

Not anymore, of course: the home/road splits have gotten ugly. At the Coliseum for the A’s final season there, the team is 10-13 with a minus-14 run differential. Not good, but passable for a team with the lowest payroll in the sport. On the road now, Oakland is 9-17 with a whopping minus-46 run differential. Yes, all this is still better than last season, of course, but the A’s seemed to be doing pretty well. Now, not so much.

Again, when you have a low payroll, it’s a fine line you walk with little room for bad luck. High-payroll teams can absorb bad luck more smoothly since they have the means to counter bad luck or overcome injuries. Look at the San Francisco Giants, for example: they just lost starting center fielder Jung Hoo Lee for the season. He was making $7.8M this year despite his mediocre .641 OPS mark. But they’ve survived.

The Giants have won 4 of 6 games since losing their “star” free agent, because pockets are deep. The A’s may have promised to up the payroll in the future, but right now, the organization is not doing that. Oakland was not a serious threat to make the playoffs in 2024, but for the first 34 games of the season, it looked like the team wouldn’t be that bad. Now? All bets are off for the A’s and their 2024 futility. Stay tuned for more.