The Oakland Athletics were founded in 1968 and quickly found success at the big-league level by winning championships in three straight years from 1972-1974 before adding their fourth in 1989.
Despite their early success, the A’s have spent most of the 21st century at the bottom of the standings due in large part to the refusal of ownership to put money into the team.
Oakland had many breakout stars in the 2010’s such as Josh Donaldson, Marcus Semien and Matt Chapman, all of which are no longer on the team.
Many of these players saw themselves get traded or were allowed to walk in free agency as the team had no intention to pay them the big money that their play had deserved.
This lack of spending has led to the A’s having the lowest payroll for the last three MLB seasons along with the lowest average attendance at home games.
Accompanying the poor play on the field was a stadium that’s best days were behind it and that needed modernising.
After years of discussions with the Oakland council and a deadline of 2024 set by MLB to have a new stadium plan, the Athletics owners started looking into relocating the team.
They eventually settled on Las Vegas to be the new home of the Athletics, following in the footsteps of the NFL’s Raiders in making the move East from Oakland.
Once the curtain fell on their last season in Oakland, ownership shocked the baseball world by starting to put money back into the team itself.
They signed starting pitcher Luis Severino to a three-year, $67 million deal which is the largest guaranteed contract in franchise history.
They also signed relief pitcher Jose Leclerc to a one-year, $10 million contract before locking up their best player from the prior season Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60 million contract.
With the change of venue, the attitude of the ball club has seemingly changed as they have built a roster that can now compete for a playoff spot in the 2025 season.
With the stadium in Las Vegas not yet under construction, the A’s will be forced to play the 2025 MLB season at a minor league stadium in Sacramento.
Although their time in Oakland may have come to an end, the future looks bright for the soon to be Las Vegas Athletics.
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