The Oakland A’s lineup has talent. There’s no question about that. Yonder Alonso’s early breakout has him as a Top 10 hitter in all of baseball, nestled in between Buster Posey and Nelson Cruz. Khris Davis is tied for 10th in homers. Toss in the resurgent Jed Lowrie, and they have three of the top 64 hitters in the game (by wRC+). There are 2-3 other league-average bats quietly providing support behind that trio.
And yet, the A’s rank 25th in MLB in runs per game, at 3.82. They’re closer to last place than 20th place, and nearly a run below MLB average (4.