# 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.
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.
* December 30, 1999: Rich Becker was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

## 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.

### Season standings

vteAL 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 recordvte Source: AL Standings Head-to-Head :
| 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.
* 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.
* July 6, 2000: Mike Mohler was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
* August 30, 2000: Jorge Velandia was traded by the Athletics to the New York Mets for Nelson Cruz.

### Roster
## 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
** 2000 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
* Jason Giambi, American League first baseman, starter
* Tim Hudson, pitcher, reserve
* Jason Isringhausen, pitcher, reserve

## Farm system

| 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 |