With apologies to Dennis Green and his oft-repeated declaration, the A’s are not at all who we thought they were.
For all the spring training analysis, all the hypotheses about what would make or break this team, the A’s were full of surprises over the first half of the 2015 season.
Presumed strengths turned out to be weaknesses. Unexpected players emerged as surprise contributors. And the A’s last-place standing in a wildly unpredictable American League West provided a big-picture shocker.
Here’s a look back at five assumptions we made when the season began, and the unexpected twists that reality wound up dealing:
WHAT WE THOUGHT: The bullpen can hold down the fort until closer Sean Doolittle returns.