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The2002Oakland Athletics season was the 102nd season in franchise history and the 35th season inOakland, California. The Athletics finished first in theAmerican League West with a record of 103–59.

The Athletics' 2002 campaign ranks among the most famous in franchise history. Following the 2001 season, Oakland saw the departure of three key players.Billy Beane, the team's general manager, responded with a series of under-the-radar free agent signings. The new-look Athletics, despite a comparative lack of star power, surprised the baseball world by besting the 2001 team's regular season record. The team is most famous, however, forwinning 20 consecutive games between August 13 and September 4, 2002.^[1][2][3] The Athletics' season was the subject ofMichael Lewis's 2003 bookMoneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (Lewis was given the opportunity to follow the team around throughout the season). A film adaptation of the book, titledMoneyball, was released in 2011.

• November 2, 2001:Mark Bellhorn was traded by the Oakland Athletics to theChicago Cubs forAdam Morrissey (minors).^[4]
• December 7, 2001:Billy Koch was traded to the Oakland Athletics by theToronto Blue Jays forEric Hinske andJustin Miller.^[5]
• December 14, 2001:David Justice was traded to the Oakland Athletics by theNew York Yankees forMark Guthrie andTyler Yates. This trade was preceded by a swap between the New York Mets andNew York Yankees ofRobin Ventura for Justice one week prior.^[6]
• January 2, 2002:Scott Hatteberg was signed as a free agent by the Oakland Athletics.^[7]
• January 11, 2002:Randy Velarde was signed as a free agent by the Oakland Athletics.^[8]
• January 14, 2002:Carlos Peña andMike Venafro were traded to the Oakland Athletics by theTexas Rangers forJason Hart,Gerald Laird,Ryan Ludwick, andMario Ramos.^[9]
• March 19, 2002:Justin Duchscherer was traded to the Oakland Athletics by theTexas Rangers forLuis Vizcaíno.^[10]

Oakland's 2002 campaign began on a tumultuous note. During the 2001–02 offseason, the team lost three keyfree agents to larger-market teams: 2000 ALMVPJason Giambi to theNew York Yankees, outfielderJohnny Damon to theBoston Red Sox, andcloserJason Isringhausen to theSt. Louis Cardinals. General managerBilly Beane sought to replace Damon and Giambi with free agent hittersScott Hatteberg andDavid Justice. Beane also made a number of key pitching acquisitions; most notably, he traded forToronto Blue Jays relieverBilly Koch, who ultimately succeeded Isringhausen as the team's closer. Beane also traded for then-unheralded starterTed Lilly and for second basemanRay Durham. The season also saw the MLB debuts of second basemanMark Ellis and eventual starterAaron Harang.^{[citation needed]}

The new-look Athletics experienced a bumpy start to the season. The team followed a respectable 15–10 start with an abysmal 5–16 run; at the end of their slump, on May 23, the team's record stood at 20–26. From that point forward, the Athletics' fortunes improved significantly. In a prelude to the team's famous late-season winning streak, the Athletics went 16–1 from June 6 to June 24. The surge propelled the club to within two games of first place, but a prolonged funk saw the A's play roughly .500 baseball for the next month and a half. That ended with an unremarkable 2–1 loss in Oakland to theToronto Blue Jays on Monday, August 12.^[11]

On August 13, the Athletics began their then-AL-record 20-game win streak. The streak's first win came courtesy ofBarry Zito, who allowed three runs (one earned) over eight innings in a 5–4 victory over the Jays. Over the next several weeks, stellar pitching, hitting, and defense propelled the Athletics' surge. Most notable were the efforts of fourth starterCory Lidle. During August, Lidle went 5–0 while posting a scant 0.20 earned run average (he allowed one run his final start of the month); three of his five winning decisions were during the streak. Many of the Athletics' victories were by narrow margins: closer Billy Koch recorded either a win or save in 12 of the streak's 20 games.^{[citation needed]}

The Athletics' 18th and 19th wins came courtesy of game ending hits by shortstopMiguel Tejada. On September 4, Oakland sought to win its 20th consecutive game; in doing so, the team hoped to break the1947 New York Yankees' American League record of 19 consecutive wins. Their opponent was theKansas City Royals. Over the first three innings of the game, Oakland shelled Kansas City pitchersPaul Byrd andDarrell May for a total of 11 runs, building a seemingly insurmountable 11–0 lead. Sloppy play down the stretch, however, allowed the Royals to score five runs apiece in the fourth and eighth innings. In the ninth, Koch surrendered a two-out single to Royals pinch hitterLuis Alicea; the single allowed pinch runnerKit Pellow to score the tying run. So the Athletics entered the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied at 11–11. PinchhitterScott Hatteberg then hit a one-out solowalkoff home run off of Kansas City relieverJason Grimsley. The home run clinched the AL-record 20th consecutive victory for the Athletics.^[2][3]

Oakland's streak came to an end with a 6–0 loss to theMinnesota Twins on September 6. The A's continued to play well down the stretch, and finished with a record of 103–59. The club's late-season surge allowed it to hold off theAnaheim Angels, who finished four games behind them at 99–63. Oakland's regular season exploits, however, once again failed to translate into postseason success. The team again lost theAmerican League Division Series (this time to the Twins) in five games.^[12]

Tejada and starting pitcherBarry Zito went on to win theAmerican LeagueMVP andCy Young Award, respectively. Tejada left the Athletics following the 2003 season, while Zito stayed until the end of the 2006 campaign.^{[citation needed]}

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The following were drafted in the first round of the2002 MLB draft by the Athletics on June 4, 2002:

• Nick Swisher (16th pick, compensatory)
• Joe Blanton (24th pick, compensatory)
• John McCurdy (26th pick)
• Benjamin Fritz (30th pick, compensatory)
• Jeremy Brown (35th pick, compensatory)
• Mark Teahen (39th pick, compensatory)

• May 22, 2002:John Mabry was traded by thePhiladelphia Phillies to the Oakland Athletics forJeremy Giambi.^[14]
• June 21, 2002:Bob Ryan was traded to theBoston Red Sox for cash considerations.^[14]
• July 5, 2002:Jeff Weaver was traded by theDetroit Tigers to theNew York Yankees, and cash was sent by the Tigers to theOakland Athletics, as part of a 3-team trade. The Athletics sentCarlos Peña,Franklyn Germán, and a player to be named later to the Tigers. The Yankees sentTed Lilly,John-Ford Griffin, and Jason Arnold (minors) to the Athletics. The Athletics completed the trade by sendingJeremy Bonderman to the Tigers on August 22, 2002.^[15]
• July 25, 2002:Ray Durham was traded by theChicago White Sox to the Oakland Athletics with cash forJon Adkins.^[16]
• July 30, 2002:Ricardo Rincón was traded by theCleveland Indians to the Oakland Athletics forMarshall McDougall.^[14]

The Athletics clinched theAmerican League West with a regular season record of 103–59, advancing to the first round of the postseason. They were defeated in the2002 American League Division Series three games to two by theAmerican League Central championMinnesota Twins.^[17] The Twins would later be defeated in the2002 American League Championship Series by the eventualWorld Series championAnaheim Angels.^[18][19]

Note: POS = Position; G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Source:[1]

Note: POS = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; AVG = Batting average; OBP = On base percentage; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Note: Only players with at least one at-bat are listed.

Source:[2]

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General references:

• 2000s in Oakland, California
• 2002 in sports in California
• 2002 Major League Baseball season
• American League West champion seasons
• Oakland Athletics seasons

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