Manager Bob Melvin truly believed he had a playoff team this year, and that's why Oakland's September stumble and frustrating finish remains perplexing to everybody involved. Even through an 0-6 start, numerous devastating injuries - most notably Chris Bassitt taking a line drive to the face in August - and center fielder Ramón Laureano's suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, this group still thought it could get back to the postseason for a fourth straight year.

Manager Bob Melvin truly believed he had a playoff team this year, and that's why Oakland's September stumble and frustrating finish remains perplexing to everybody involved. Even through an 0-6 start, numerous devastating injuries — most notably Chris Bassitt taking a line drive to the face in August — and center fielder Ramón Laureano's suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, this group still thought it could get back to the postseason for a fourth straight year.

It concluded a strong season for Montas, who finished with the second-most strikeouts (207) for an A’s pitcher in the Oakland era. Montas posted a 4.72 ERA in his first 16 starts, then compiled a 2.17 ERA in his last 16 outings. After his final start in Seattle, Montas attributed his second-half numbers to: “Just not giving up, man.

Manager Bob Melvin truly believed he had a playoff team this year, and that’s why Oakland’s September stumble and frustrating finish remains perplexing to everybody involved. Even through an 0-6 start, numerous devastating injuries — most notably Chris Bassitt taking a line drive to the face in August — and center fielder Ramón Laureano’s suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, this group still thought it could get back to the postseason for a fourth straight year.

Bob Melvin has charted 11 Oakland A’s teams through the baseball season. Six of those teams have made the postseason. Three have finished in last place in the American League West.

Bob Melvin has charted 11 Oakland A’s teams through the baseball season. Six of those teams have made the postseason. Three have finished in last place in the American League West.

Manager Bob Melvin truly believed he had a playoff team this year, and that's why Oakland's September stumble and frustrating finish remains perplexing to everybody involved. “This is probably the first team since I've been here that didn't make it to the postseason that I thought was a postseason team," Melvin said Monday. This season, Oakland watched its opponents regularly do that very thing, and the A's never found the second-half magic that has long carried the club and helped them win the AL West during the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season.

The Oakland A’s are heading home for the winter after missing out on the 2021 playoffs, but on Monday they got a piece of hardware on the way out the door. Starter Frankie Montas was named AL Pitcher of the Month for September. The right-hander did everything he could to keep his team in the Wild Card race during the final weeks of the season.

Brodie Brazil looks at the A's 2021 season, and beyond.

Don't expect Moreland to be back, and as much as it is painful, don't expect Canha to be back either (with our luck, he'll sign a long-term deal with the Giants and hit 1000 home runs next season), and if it is even possible, expect even more pain from the likely exit of Olson via trade, as his value is extremely high right now. As I said before, if the A's are interested in fan service, they would have resigned Semien last year, and they didn't.

Oakland is a very special place for Khris Davis and his family and he's very open to a return.

It's never too early to see how the A's should approach the offseason.

In the eighth inning, Correa blasted a home run to right field - his career-high 26th of the year - and pointed to his teammates in the dugout as he headed to first base, as he regularly does. When he got back to the dugout, there were even more hugs than usual for the star shortstop. "I knew it was my last at-bat of the year right there and I was trying to make something cool happen," Correa said.

That changed when Oakland tied it with a three-spot in the ninth. It also set the stage perfectly for Gurriel, who came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with the winning run on third. He delivered a single to left to win the game and only pad his lead in the batting race.

He waited until the last possible moment, but Khris Davis finally hit a homer in his reunion tour with the Oakland A’s. After a prolific slugging career in a half-decade with the A’s, the team traded Davis away last winter, and he began the 2021 season with the Texas Rangers. But he found his way back to the organization in August and was called up to the majors on the first day of September.

That’s the end of the 2021 season for the Oakland A’s. They didn’t go quietly, hitting two homers in the top of the 9th to tie the score, but the game and year came to a familiar end with the bullpen allowing a walk-off run in the bottom half. The A’s lost to the Houston Astros by a 7-6 final at Minute Maid Park.

Kemp made 52 starts for Oakland at second base and 37 in left field. He also appeared off the bench as part of in-game moves and hit . as a substitute.

AL batting champion Yuli Gurriel hit a winning RBI single in the ninth inning, and the AL West champion Houston Astros headed to the postseason with a 7-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Gurriel hit . and became Houston's second player to win a batting title after Jose Altuve in 2014, '16 and '17.

AL batting champion Yuli Gurriel hit a winning RBI single in the ninth inning, and the AL West champion Houston Astros headed to the postseason with a 7-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Gurriel hit . and became Houston’s second player to win a batting title after Jose Altuve in 2014, ’16 and ’17.

AL batting champion Yuli Gurriel hit a winning RBI single in the ninth inning, and the AL West champion Houston Astros headed to the postseason with a 7-6 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Gurriel hit . and became Houston's second player to win a batting title after Jose Altuve in 2014, '16 and '17.