The last time the A’s and Giants were shut out of the postseason in the same year was 2011. Most experts think that’ll happen again in 2015. According to a vast majority of the baseball writers from CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo and ESPN, the Athletics are not a playoff team. According to an even vaster majority, the Giants’ season will end with an Oct. 4 game against the Rockies.
That’s what happens when your team’s offseason activities add up to what’s perceived as a “loss” — the experts go into the season thinking your team’s roster looks about as sexy as the A’s/Giants hat barely clinging to that dad’s head in the photo above.
None of these five experts thought the A’s or Giants would make it to the postseason (Wild Card game included). We’ll remember this, CBS Sports.
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The A’s got about as much love from these guys as either team got anywhere, with two predicted Wild Card berths and one division title. The Giants, on the other hand, went 0-for-6. By the way, SI’s experts (from left to right) are Tom Verducci, Albert Chen, Ben Reiter, Cliff Corcoran, Jay Jaffe and Joe Sheehan.
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The tables turned, as this time the A’s weren’t picked to make the playoffs by one of the five Yahoo experts, while the Giants … were picked by a guy named Mark Townsend to get to the Wild Card game and lose. On a completely different subject, why has Yahoo consistently chosen formats and colors that make their content so difficult to read in recent years?
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The A’s and Giants were shut out on the division front, but they each got one Wild Card vote each.
Totals (31 experts)
- A’s Wild Card: 3
- A’s Division Title: 1
- Giants Wild Card: 2
- Giants Division Title: 0
- A’s making the postseason: 12.9%
- Giants making the postseason: 6.5%
Predictions from a non-expert
AL West
- Mariners
- A’s
- Angels
- Astros
- Rangers
AL Central
- Royals
- Indians
- Tigers
- White Sox
- Twins
AL East
- Red Sox
- Orioles
- Blue Jays
- Rays
- Yankees
AL Wild Card
- Orioles
- A’s
NL West
- Dodgers
- Giants
- Padres
- D-Backs
- Rockies
NL Central
- Pirates
- Cardinals
- Brewers
- Cubs
- Reds
NL East
- Nationals
- Marlins
- Mets
- Braves
- Phillies
NL Wild Card
- Cardinals
- Giants
AL Wild Card game: Orioles over A’s
NL Wild Card game: Giants over Cardinals
ALDS: Royals over Red Sox, Mariners over Orioles
NLDS: Nationals over Giants, Pirates over Dodgers
ALCS: Royals over Mariners
NLCS: Nationals over Pirates
World Series: Nationals over Royals
The Giants barely held off Bryce Harper last year, but that sure felt like foreshadowing didn’t it? What a force he was, absolutely fearless and sending Hunter Strickland fastballs into Contra Costa County. Then they went and added Max Scherzer to a rotation that already included Jordan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister. Even Matt Williams can’t screw that up … I think.
