2003 Oakland Athletics

In 2002, the A's had yet another glorious regular season featuring another marvelous second half, followed by another ignominious post-season defeat, followed by another good offseason.

This year the A's haven't changed a whole lot. The Oakland A's featured perhaps the strongest starting rotation in the league and were 3rd in the American League in defensive efficiency. Put it all together and, although the bullpen struggled some, they gave up the 2nd fewest runs in the league. Miguel Tejada won the MVP, Barry Zito won the Cy Young, Jermaine Dye improved in the second half of the season (giving hope he's back to form after the broken leg), and Chad Bradford continued to be a great bargain.

The A's offense was nothing to sneeze at last year, and they only lost one key player -- leadoff hitter Ray Durham who was only with the team for the playoff push and since moved to San Francisco. But then they picked up Erubiel Durazo for a song -- released from the Cardinal's roster for cost cutting reasons.

Durazo is a designated hitter for the Athletics, third on the team with 60 RBIs. But his numbers aren't great -- in 537 at-bats he hit only .259, with 21 homers and 77 RBIs. The latter two figures were career highs, but well below the A's projections. No matter, as he proved in the Oct 2 game against the Red Sox, he will be key in Oakland's trek towards the World Series.

There are several bright spots on this year's Athletics roster, several of which have been on and off the injured list. Such as pitchers Mark Mulder and Micah Bowie.

note: The Oakland Athletics are commonly referred to as the Oakland A's by their fans.