2000 Oakland Athletics season

The Oakland Athletics' 2000 season was the team's 33rd in Oakland, California. It was also the 100th season in franchise history. The team finished first in the American League West with a record of 91–70.

2000 Oakland Athletics
American League West champions
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	Network Associates Coliseum
City	Oakland, California
Record	91–70 (.565)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	Stephen Schott & Kenneth Hofmann
General managers	Billy Beane
Managers	Art Howe
Television	KICU-TV FSN Bay Area (Ray Fosse, Greg Papa)
Radio	KABL (Bill King, Ken Korach, Ray Fosse)
← 1999 Seasons 2001 →

The A's, in winning the division, snapped an eight-year postseason drought. The division championship was also the first of the so-called "Moneyball" era. Over the next six seasons, the Athletics would reach the postseason a total of four additional times.

The season saw the debuts of eventual ace starters Barry Zito and Mark Mulder. These two pitchers, along with Tim Hudson (who had debuted one year prior), would comprise the top of Oakland's rotation (known popularly as the "Big Three") until the end of the 2004 season. Of the three, Hudson fared the best in 2000; he won twenty games (the most in the American League) and reached the All-Star Game in his first full season as a starter. For his efforts, Hudson finished second in that year's American League Cy Young Award voting.

The Athletics also boasted a strong offense. The team scored 947 runs (an Oakland record) over the course of the season; this figure was the third-highest in the American League. The offense was led by Jason Giambi, who won the American League MVP Award at the end of the season. The team collectively hit 239 home runs in 2000 (also an Oakland record); in total, nine different Athletics hit at least ten home runs.

The Athletics fought the Seattle Mariners in the standings for most of the season. In the end, the Athletics narrowly prevailed; they finished only half a game ahead of the 91–71 Mariners (who won the AL Wild Card). The Athletics then played the New York Yankees in the ALDS. They would lose the best-of-five series three games to two.

Offseason

• December 30, 1999: Scott Service was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[1]
• December 30, 1999: Rich Becker was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[2]

Regular season

• May 29, 2000: Randy Velarde of the Athletics had an unassisted triple play. He caught a liner, tagged the runner coming from first base and touched second base.^[3]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	91	70	.565	—	47‍–‍34	44‍–‍36
Seattle Mariners	91	71	.562	½	47‍–‍34	44‍–‍37
Anaheim Angels	82	80	.506	9½	46‍–‍35	36‍–‍45
Texas Rangers	71	91	.438	20½	42‍–‍39	29‍–‍52

Record vs. opponents

2000 American League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 2000 v t e
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	7–5	5–4	4–6	3–6	5–5	6–6	7–3	5–5	5–8	5–8	6–6	7–5	5–7	12–6
Baltimore	5–7	—	5–7	4–6	5–4	6–4	3–7	6–3	5–7	4–8	3–7	8–5	6–6	7–6	7–11
Boston	4–5	7–5	—	7–5	6–6	7–5	4–6	8–2	6–7	5–5	5–5	6–6	7–3	4–8	9–9
Chicago	6–4	6–4	5–7	—	8–5	9–3	5–7	7–5	8–4	6–3	7–5	6–4	5–5	5–5	12–6
Cleveland	6–3	4–5	6–6	5–8	—	6–7	5–7	5–8	5–5	6–6	7–2	8–2	6–4	8–4	13–5
Detroit	5–5	4–6	5–7	3–9	7–6	—	5–7	7–6	8–4	6–4	7–2	4–5	5–5	3–9	10–8
Kansas City	6–6	7–3	6–4	7–5	7–5	7–5	—	7–5	2–8	4–8	4–8	5–5	3–7	4–6	8–10
Minnesota	3–7	3–6	2–8	5–7	8–5	6–7	5–7	—	5–5	5–7	3–9	4–6	8–4	5–4	7–11
New York	5–5	7–5	7–6	4–8	5–5	4–8	8–2	5–5	—	6–3	4–6	6–6	10–2	5–7	11–6
Oakland	8–5	8–4	5–5	3–6	6–6	4–6	8–4	7–5	3–6	—	9–4	7–2	5–7	7–3	11–7
Seattle	8–5	7–3	5–5	5–7	2–7	2–7	8–4	9–3	6–4	4–9	—	9–3	7–5	8–2	11–7
Tampa Bay	6–6	5–8	6–6	4–6	2–8	5–4	5–5	6–4	6–6	2–7	3–9	—	5–7	5–7	9–9
Texas	5–7	6–6	3–7	5–5	4–6	5–5	7–3	4–8	2–10	7–5	5–7	7–5	—	4–6	7–11
Toronto	7–5	6–7	8–4	5–5	4–8	9–3	6–4	4–5	7–5	3–7	2–8	7–5	6–4	—	9–9

Notable transactions

• May 5, 2000: Rich Becker was released by the Athletics.^[2]
• June 5, 2000: Rich Harden was drafted by the Athletics in the 17th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed May 18, 2001.^[4]
• July 6, 2000: Mike Mohler was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.^[5]
• August 30, 2000: Jorge Velandia was traded by the Athletics to the New York Mets for Nelson Cruz.^[6]

Roster

2000 Oakland Athletics
Roster
Pitchers 19 Kevin Appier 59 Todd Belitz 31 Gil Heredia 15 Tim Hudson 48 Jason Isringhausen 24 Doug Jones 33 Marcus Jones 52 Mike Magnante 17 Ron Mahay 33 T.J. Mathews 45,48 Jim Mecir 20 Mark Mulder 40 Omar Olivares 30 Ariel Prieto 54 Jon Ratliff 56 Rich Sauveur 26 Scott Service 29 Jeff Tam 61 Luis Vizcaíno 53 Barry Zito		Catchers  6 Sal Fasano 55 Ramón Hernández 23 A. J. Hinch Infielders 49 Mark Bellhorn  3 Eric Chavez 16 Jason Giambi 11 Frank Menechino 60 José Ortiz  9 Olmedo Sáenz 10 Mike Stanley  4 Miguel Tejada 50 Mario Valdez 13 Jorge Velandia  8 Randy Velarde		Outfielders 22 Rich Becker 22 Eric Byrnes 28 Ryan Christenson  7 Jeremy Giambi 14 Ben Grieve 37 Terrence Long 36 Adam Piatt 21 Bo Porter 12 Matt Stairs Other batters  5 John Jaha		Manager 18 Art Howe Coaches 41 Thad Bosley (Hitting) 35 Brad Fischer (Bullpen) 39 Ken Macha (Bench) 47 Rick Peterson (Pitching) 45 Mike Quade (First Base) 38 Ron Washington (Third Base)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Ramón Hernández	143	419	101	.241	14	62
1B	Jason Giambi	152	510	170	.333	43	137
2B	Randy Velarde	122	485	135	.278	12	41
SS	Miguel Tejada	160	607	167	.275	30	115
3B	Eric Chavez	153	501	139	.277	26	86
LF	Ben Grieve	158	594	166	.279	27	104
CF	Terrence Long	138	584	168	.288	18	80
RF	Matt Stairs	143	476	108	.227	21	81
DH	Olmedo Sáenz	76	214	67	.313	9	37

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jeremy Giambi	104	260	66	.254	10	50
Adam Piatt	60	157	47	.299	5	23
Frank Menechino	66	145	37	.255	6	26
Ryan Christenson	121	129	32	.248	4	18
Sal Fasano	52	126	27	.214	7	19
Mike Stanley	32	97	26	.268	4	18
John Jaha	33	97	17	.175	1	5
Rich Becker	23	47	11	.234	1	5
Jorge Velandia	18	24	3	.125	0	2
Mark Bellhorn	9	13	2	.154	0	0
Bo Porter	17	13	2	.154	1	2
Mario Valdez	5	12	0	.000	0	0
José Ortiz	7	11	2	.182	0	1
Eric Byrnes	10	10	3	.300	0	0
A. J. Hinch	6	8	2	.250	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Tim Hudson	32	202.1	20	4	4.14	169
Gil Heredia	32	198.2	15	11	4.12	101
Kevin Appier	31	195.1	15	11	4.54	129
Mark Mulder	27	154.0	9	10	5.44	88
Barry Zito	14	92.2	7	4	2.72	78
Marcus Jones	1	2.1	0	0	15.43	1

Other pitchers

Note; G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Omar Olivares	21	108.0	4	8	6.75	57
Ariel Prieto	8	31.2	1	2	5.12	19
Ron Mahay	5	16.0	0	1	9.00	5

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Jason Isringhausen	66	6	4	33	3.78	57
Jeff Tam	72	3	3	3	2.63	46
Mike Magnante	55	1	1	0	4.31	17
Doug Jones	54	4	2	2	3.93	54
T.J. Mathews	50	2	3	0	6.03	42
Jim Mecir	25	3	1	4	2.80	37
Scott Service	20	1	2	1	6.38	35
Luis Vizcaíno	12	0	1	0	7.45	18
Rich Sauveur	10	0	0	0	4.35	7
Todd Belitz	5	0	0	0	2.70	3
Frank Menechino	1	0	0	0	36.00	0
Jon Ratliff	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Postseason

Game 1, October 3

Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, California

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	7	0
Oakland	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	X	5	10	2
WP: Gil Heredia (1-0)   LP: Roger Clemens (0-1)   Sv: Jason Isringhausen (1)

Game 2, October 4

Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, California

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	4	8	1
Oakland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
WP: Andy Pettitte (1-0)   LP: Kevin Appier (0-1)   Sv: Mariano Rivera (1)

Game 3, October 6

Yankee Stadium in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	4	2
New York	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	X	4	6	1
WP: Orlando Hernández (1-0)   LP: Tim Hudson (0-1)   Sv: Mariano Rivera (2) Home runs: OAK: Terrence Long (1) NYY: None

Game 4, October 7

Yankee Stadium in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland	3	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	4	11	11	0
New York	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	8	0
WP: Barry Zito (1-0)   LP: Roger Clemens (0-2) Home runs: OAK: Olmedo Sáenz (1) NYY: None

Game 5, October 8

Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, California

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	6	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	12	0
Oakland	0	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	5	13	0
WP: Mike Stanton (1-0)   LP: Gil Heredia (1-1)   Sv: Mariano Rivera (3) Home runs: NYY: David Justice (1) OAK: None

Composite box

2000 ALDS (3-2): New York Yankees over Oakland Athletics

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York Yankees	6	4	0	2	0	5	0	1	1	19	41	2
Oakland Athletics	3	3	1	2	4	4	0	2	4	23	44	5
Total attendance: 249,911   Average attendance: 49,982

Awards and records

• Jason Giambi, AL MVP award
• Jason Giambi, Hutch Award^[7]
  • 2000 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
• Jason Giambi, American League first baseman, starter
• Tim Hudson, pitcher, reserve
• Jason Isringhausen, pitcher, reserve

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Sacramento River Cats	Pacific Coast League	Bob Geren
AA	Midland RockHounds	Texas League	Tony DeFrancesco
A	Modesto A's	California League	Greg Sparks
A	Visalia Oaks	California League	Juan Navarrette
A-Short Season	Vancouver Canadians	Northwest League	Dave Joppie
Rookie	AZL Athletics	Arizona League	John Kuehl