Moneyball wins

It was not so much that the Texas Rangers collapsed at the end of the season. The real story of the Rangers slide from a 12-game lead over Oakland on July 1 to losing the division championship to the A’s today on the last game of the season was simply this: the Rangers were merely mediocre in the last half of the season and the A’s were outstanding.

Here are the telling figures: Since July 1, the Ranger’s won-loss record was only four games above 500, 43-39, a winning percentage of .524. Oakland, on the other hand, was an incredible 56-26 (.683!) over that same period.

How did they do it? It sure wasn’t with any outstanding performances on offense or defense. The team’s leading batter, Yoenis Cespedes (not exactly a household name) ranks 17^th in the American League with a .292 average. As a team, Oakland ranks 15^th among the 30 MLB teams in batting (Texas was first), 16^th in runs scored and 17^th in OPS. They were, however, seventh in home runs, hitting 194, only six less than the Rangers. On defense, Oakland committed 110 errors, 8^th worst in the majors.

Pitching, still a Ranger’s weak spot, was another story for the A’s. Oakland was sixth in the majors with a team ERA of 3.48. (Texas was 16^th with a 3.96), although none of their pitchers finished in the top 10 in ERA in the AL.

But somehow they put it all together for a fabulous second half of the season while Texas was barely above average.

It would not surprise me at all to see a World Series matching Oakland and Washington. Now, what were the odds of that happening at the beginning of the season?