The Oakland Athletics are struggling, with a 10-40 record in the first 50 games of the 2023 MLB season. They lost their sixth consecutive game, falling 3-2 to the Seattle Mariners. This start matches the fourth-worst in history. If they continue at this pace, they could end up with a record-breaking 32-130 season. The A’s are also 21 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers. Amidst these difficulties, the team is shifting its focus to Las Vegas, aiming to build a new ballpark there. The longstanding negotiations with Oakland have yet to yield an agreement. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred supports the A’s decision to pursue Las Vegas and hopes for a resolution by the end of the year.
Fox News: A’s off to worst MLB start since 1932, projected for most losses in season since 1899
Joe Morgan; May 24, 2023
The Oakland Athletics are off to one brutal start to a season.
The A’s lost 3-2 to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday for their sixth loss in a row, dropping Oakland to a 10-40 start through 50 games of the 2023 Major League Baseball season.
The 10-40 record matches the 1932 Boston Red Sox and the 1897 St. Louis Browns for the fourth-worst 50-game start to a season.
The start projects to a record of 32-130, which would be the most losses for an MLB team in a single season since the Cleveland Spiders lost 134 games in 1899.
The A’s have now lost 12 of the last 14 games and sit 21 games behind the first-place Texas Rangers in the American League West.
It’s been a turbulent two-month start to the season for the A’s, who are turning their attention to Las Vegas after signing a binding agreement to purchase land in southern Nevada with the intention of building a new major league ballpark.
The A’s have long been rumored to be leaving the city of Oakland as the team and the city have been unable to come to an agreement on a new ballpark.
“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” A’s President Dave Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in April.
“Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”
The Oakland Coliseum has been the home of the A’s since 1968 when the team moved to Oakland from Kansas City.
“We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement provided to the Review-Journal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons