Post-Season: Enjoying The A’s By Proxy

No the A’s themselves didn’t quite make the post-season in 2024. It was close but they were barely beaten out by just 3 teams ahead of them in the AL West and those 20 or those nail-biters that went the wrong way.

Still, it’s fun to watch the playoffs and take pleasure in the accomplishments of some former Athletics you can’t help but root for. The one who leaps to mind, even though I am firmly neutral about the success of the New York Mets, is Sean Manaea. On Tuesday, Manaea spun a gem to help lift the Mets into the NLCS, continuing the trend of surprising success of the NL’s #6 seeds since the #6 seed became an actual thing.

Over the years I have had the honor of interviewing many players who were with the A’s at the time. They range from well known names such as Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, and Marcus Semien, to failed prospects such as Max Schrock, to athletes who became better known for their non-athletic endeavors — such as Sam Fuld, now a GM, Craig Breslow, now a front office whiz, Stephen Vogt, now a manager, and Addison Russell, best known for his off-field behavior.

Of the two dozen or so players I had a chance to interview, I couldn’t list one as being any nicer than Manaea. (Hit tip to Olson for also making the “short list”.) From everything you read, my experience with him was typical — to engage with him is to be treated with friendliness and respect and to know him, even for just a few minutes, is to root for him.

Armed with renewed action on his slider, Manaea turned in an excellent 2024 season (12-6, 3.47 ERA) and was stellar in his 7+ IP, allowing just 3 hits and 1 ER. He may no longer be ours, and it may be maddening to reflect on how it would have been had Tuesday’s Manaea shown up in front of a record breaking wild card crowd in 2019, but some guys you just root for because of who they are. And for me, Sean Manaea is one of those guys.

This brings me to today’s question: which individual players are in the 2024 post-season that you root for as individuals? And why? The list of teams still standing is shrinking by the day, currently at 7 (Dodgers, Padres, Mets, Guardians, Tigers, Yankees, Royals) but soon to be at just a final four.

Up to 2 teams could be eliminated later today, so root while you can! And tell us for whom and for what reason...