Walking through my old school the other day, I picked up a copy of the school's newspaper. Inside was an opinion article calling for the merging of the two Bay Area teams, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants.
If you are from the Bay Area then you know what it's like having the A's and Giants stadiums in eye sight. Oakland A's fans are known to be loyal, rowdy, and love the game for what it is. They are the ninth man on the field.
Giants fans have the history, and they are loyal and knowledgeable.
In the article a few points where made. The author thought that by combining the hitting power of the A's and the pitching of the Giants, the team would be a unstoppable force.
If you compare the pitching of the Phillies and the Rays, the two teams to make it to the World Series, the ERA of the Phillies was 3.89, and the Rays was 3.82, pretty much level pitching.
Comparing the team batting average, we see the Phillies had a .255 and the Rays had .260. These are pretty fairly matched teams in terms of batting and pitching. But they made it to the World Series.
If we compare those same numbers between the Giants and A's. The A's finished 75-86, third in the AL West. Their batting average was .242, and the ERA was 4.01. The Giants finished 72-90, fourth in the NL West. Their numbers were as follow: batting average, .264 and ERA 4.38.
That's pretty even, as well, but sub par compared to the other teams in their division, let alone their league. And compared to the two teams that made the World Series that's not much better.
But that's assuming the A's and Giants put up similar, if not better numbers. I would predict the Giants and the A's combination would just create even more of a sour taste in they Bay Area.
And so far only one team has kept up to what they are known for. The Giants "best rotation" is far from being what was predicted.
But the numbers aren't the only thing I'm worried about. First of all, what league would they play in? It would make one of the leagues lopsided, and this would kiss goodbye any chance of the Bridge Series being replayed.
We are also talking about not only the combination of two historic teams, but two very loyal and very dedicated fanbases. Who would the A's fans root for, who would the Giants fans praise? It would upset each community.
Granted the idea seams to have its perks; it would solve the A's stadium crisis. They would surely use the newer AT&T park. San Francisco can finally say they have a World Series in California, but technically they didn't win. But that also means twice the baseball that was offered in the Bay is now just one time the heartache.
The A's are already looking to move, becoming possibly the Fremont A's? What would the team be called? The San Francisco Athletics? The Oakland Giants? It just sounds weird.
The main argument in the opinion was combining the teams would bring less heartache each year to the Bay, but it just sounds like it would bring more pain to the fanbases.
And for someone like me who loves baseball, why would I rid my self of being able to see twice the action in the Bay? The teams are obviously in a rebuilding stage, so would it be worth it to start over?
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