What happened to the A’s?

The+official+logo+for+the+1989+World+Series+between+the+Oakland+Athletics+and+San+Francisco+Giants.

Flickr | Steve Rhodes

The official logo for the 1989 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants.

Louis LaVenture,
Sports Editor

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the Bay Area and the surrounding counties in California.

This is also the anniversary of the 1989 World Series titled The Battle of the Bay that pitted Bay Area foes the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants against each other in a battle for Major League Baseball supremacy.

The iconic series was delayed 10 days due to the massive 6.9 quake. This included the postponement of game three which was scheduled to begin less than 30 minutes before the tremor began.

The A’s captured their fourth World Series title in 1989, since moving to Oakland in 1968, by sweeping the Giants four games to zero. However, since then the two franchises have gone in completely opposite directions.

While the Athletics managed to flourish in the following few years, by the mid 1990’s the success was beginning to wane while the Giants improved.

San Francisco has won two world championships since then and has built a new home on the water front becoming a perennial contender. Especially since the arrival of the all-time home run leader in major league history Barry Bonds in 1993.

The A’s have been on a strict budget since the departure of the iconic first baseman Mark McGwire in 1997. They consistently have one of the lowest payrolls in the league every year, which has been a key factor in their postseason woes.

The Giants on the other hand, are huge players in the free agent market sparing no expense and offering maximum contracts to players like Barry Zito like they are giving out candy on Halloween.

That brings me to the 2014 season where the Giants are ahead in the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Meanwhile the Athletics saw a heart breaking loss on Sept. 30 in extra innings to the Kansas City Royals sending them home with yet another early exit from postseason play.

The Giants remain a title contender every season while the A’s often put together impressive regular seasons but still have yet to find that tremor-filled magic of 1989, despite having arguably one of the best general managers in the sport Billy Beane.

Many A’s fans blame Beane for this season’s collapse after he traded the two-time Home Run Derby champion Yoenis Cespedes to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Jon Lester.

Two teams separated by a bridge have completely different ways of doing business and unfortunately for East Bay sports fans the results favor the Giants in every way.

With no new stadium in sight and a miniscule payroll on the horizon Oakland fans can only wonder, when are we going to be more like the Giants?