Elephant Rumblings: The Story of Ramon Laureano, Piscotty’s Case For Comeback Player of the Year

A’s Coverage: Slusser: ‘Opener’ vs. ‘opener’: A’s lineup strategy, who’s pitching second... Keown: The Oakland A’s are streaking towards October... Hall: Oakland A’s switching Triple-A affiliates from Nashville to Las Vegas... Ross: Stephen Piscotty’s case for Comeback Player of the Year... McWilliams (Athletic Subscription): The story of the A’s Ramón Laureano, the junior-college kid who wasn’t supposed to be here MLB News: ESPN: Christian Yelich makes baseball...

A’s Week in Twitter: Postseason probabilities, BoMel ejections, and more!

We’re back with A’s Week in Twitter.

We’re back with A’s Week in Twitter, where we round up the best of the Oakland Athletics Twitterverse. From launch angle to Jesse Chavez’s favorite teams, scroll to see what made the cut!

Your skipper could never.

Clarification: I had a note about Bob Melvin’s ejection being his 19th. It was his 19th ejection with Oakland and 40th in his career - Bob wants full credit for all of those.

A’s switching Triple-A affiliates from Nashville to Las Vegas

A’s prospects will now play for the Las Vegas 51s.

The Oakland A’s are switching Triple-A affiliates, the team announced Monday. After four seasons with the Nashville Sounds, the A’s are now partnered with the Las Vegas 51s through at least 2020. They remain in the Pacific Coast League.

The story was first reported Saturday night by Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle, who noted that several other teams will also be shuffling around their PCL affiliates. Other candidates for the A’s...

Five MLB players who made the leap in 2018 (and five who didn't)

Each offseason, all 30 MLB clubs try to outline a path for their organizations to be the last ones standing the following October. And while some teams will try to improve via winter trades or big free-agent additions, one thing won't change: The easiest, most cost-efficient way to win is to develop your own young talent into cornerstone contributors or even stars. What is interesting, though, is that for all the planning a team can do and discussions it can have, this game is still played...

This last weekend was a failure

Any other Oakland Athletics’ fans struggling on this Monday afternoon to get a handle on the moment? As I sit in front of the keyboard, I’m not sure what direction to take with today’s blog. Let’s see what it sounds like. The Oakland Athletics lost two games in a row and the series to the […] Oakland Athletics: This last weekend was a failure - White Cleat Beat - White Cleat Beat - An Oakland Athletics Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

A's make Las Vegas new Triple-A affiliate

The Oakland Athletics have announced the club has come to terms on a player development contract with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s of the Pacific Coast League through the 2020 season.

Athletics move Triple-A team to Las Vegas

The Athletics announced Monday that they’ve moved their Triple-A club from Nashville to Las Vegas, forging a partnership with the Vegas 51s for the first season of their newly constructed stadium. It’s a two-year deal partnership between the two sides, and while that’s a fairly short term, the two sides could easily extend that player development contract (PDC) for another two to four seasons after the 2020 campaign, as is frequently the case.Las Vegas had previously been home to the...

Elephant Rumblings: A’s Told To Find New AAA Home, Kyler Murray on Heisman Pace

A’s Coverage: Game #150: An Exciting End to a Boring Game, A’s Lose 5-4... Fink: What the Athletics need to do to host a playoff game... MLB: Athletics instructional league roster, schedule... Slusser: Sources: A’s told they won’t be back at Triple-A Nashville... SI: Should A’s Turn to Bullpenning for Wild Card Game? Johnson: Kyler Murray is on pace with Baker Mayfield’s Heisman season... MLB News: Crasnick: Don Mattingly calls for changes to September roster rules... Axisa:...

Davis' grand slam too little, too late vs. Rays

Khris Davis' grand slam made things interesting, but it wasn't enough as the Athletics fell, 5-4, to the Rays in the series finale on Sunday at Tropicana Field.

Game #150: An Exciting End to a Boring Game, A’s Lose 5-4

Khrush Davis launched a grand slam in the top of the ninth, but ultimately the A’s couldn’t overcome an early deficit and an onslaught of strong pitching from the Rays’ bullpen. The A’s drop two out of three games in Tampa Bay, and now have an off day before resuming play on Tuesday against the Angels in Oakland.

Game Thread #1 / Game Thread #2

For the first eight innings of today’s ballgame, there were only four green and gold baserunners. Three of those baserunners were Matt...

Game Thread #150: Athletics at Rays (2)

The A’s have just managed one baserunner over the minimum in six lackluster innings of offense, while Mike Fiers didn’t have his sharpest stuff and gave up three runs in four laborious innings. There is still time for the A’s to scratch and bite their way back into this game, as the team is plenty capable of scoring runs in bunches, but the team shouldn’t pussyfoot around for much longer.

The A’s bullpen should prevent things from getting further out of hand, and Matt Chapman, Jed...

Fatrolf’s Sunday Sketches: The We’re Coming for You New York Edition

Despite injury woes to pitching staff, Oakland A’s prove dominant in race for October

After a week of baseball, it’s clear that Houston feels the heat and is doing everything they can to not let up their lead again, but the A’s will not relent. With a chance at the number one spot in the division dancing at their fingertips, our bunch is pulling out all the stops to get away from the clutches of the Wild Card game.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way. Sean Manaea is to undergo...

Melvin, A's 'just trying to win' down the stretch

Oakland manager Bob Melvin isn't getting too caught up with how the team makes it to the postseason, as long as it gets there.

Game Thread #150: Athletics at Rays

Last night’s loss was a hard fought and difficult one, so fortunately the A’s have a Sunday morning game to quickly put the defeat on the back-burner. The A’s are 1.5 back of the Yankees and 3.5 back of the Astros, and both teams will be in action by 11:00 today for those who want to scoreboard watch. If the A’s win today, they will take the series against one of the hottest teams in the second half as well as against one of the toughest opponents to face on the road.

Mike Fiers is...

Some losses are more painful than others

The Oakland Athletics fell to three and a half games back of the division leading Houston Astros after a painful loss last night at Tropicana Field. It was painful to watch, wasn’t it? Baseball at The Trop was never going to be pretty. It may be the only stadium in the country people speak worse […] Oakland Athletics: Some losses are more painful than others - White Cleat Beat - White Cleat Beat - An Oakland Athletics Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Game #149: A’s fall short in 7-5 thriller

Oakland had their chances, but the Rays were able to hold on.

The Oakland A’s fought hard to the end as usual on Saturday, but it wasn’t quite enough this time. The Rays hit a three-run homer off Jeurys Familia in the 8th and held on for a 7-5 victory.

Full recap to come!

*** Game Thread #1 | Game Thread #2 ***

Game Thread #149: A’s at Rays (2)

The A’s got a bit cute with their bullpen opener strategy, and it cost them two runs. Then they got one back! But they’re still trailing, 2-1, entering the 6th. That means it’s time for a ...

*** Click here to revisit the initial thread! ***

Game Thread #149: A’s at Rays

It’s Opener vs. Opener for the A’s and Rays on Saturday. For the A’s, we can expect to see Frankie Montas or Chris Bassitt in long relief, reports Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle.

Lineups:

Lineups tonight for A’s and Rays. Battle of the openers. pic.twitter.com/R3tqwa9SN9

A’s opener strategy is working out so far

Liam Hendriks will make his fifth “start” on Saturday.

The Oakland A’s are set to use their bullpen opener for the fifth time on Saturday. That means Liam Hendriks will pitch the 1st inning, followed by a traditional starter after him in a long relief role. For more on this strategy and why it’s happening, click here for the explanation.

Here’s a summary of how the plan has gone so far in its first four attempts:

The first one went awry,...

Potential 1-Game Showdown Offers Wild Pitching Possibilities

Baseball v.2018: If you can’t find a tallest midget, find several really good dwarfs. Welcome to the circus that is the “opener” and the “bullpen game”.

Right now the tallest midget in the A’s rotation appears to be Mike Fiers, and if the A’s wind up hosting a wild card game against the Yankees it seems awfully likely Fiers will get the initial call. However, his Coliseum start against New York showed exactly why he’s risky to try at Yankee Stadium, as Brett Gardner opened...