clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Sean Doolittle out of Face of MLB: The art of losing an unfair game

By Jeremy F. Koo
"Pretty good run," Sean Doolittle said.
"Pretty good run," Sean Doolittle said.
Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Sean Doolittle's journey through the Face of MLB contest comes to an end, which means you can unmute all of your A's fan friends on Twitter now. Giants catcher Buster Posey moves on to face Mets third baseman David Wright, though A's fans did not go down without a good effort.

A's Twitter vs. count the rings, no the recent ones

Eric Sogard beat Buster Posey last year in the quarterfinals, but the Giants pulled out all the stops this year for the their 753,000 followers on Twitter (against the A's 236,000) in the semifinals to ensure that big bucks and big fans were the big winners:

  • A Buster Posey bobblehead (1,900 retweets)
  • A game-used lineup card (1,600)
  • A signed baseball (1,900)
  • A signed jersey (2,200)
  • A black alternate jersey (2,900)
  • Two round-trip tickets on Virgin America (3,100)

Alright, those tickets on Virgin America are pretty sweet. They fly to Cancun, after all. But enough buzz marketing for Virgin America. A few of us on Twitter had a few ideas to draw the A's sponsors in if they wanted to join the party:

  • A year's supply of Mike and Ike's
  • A gift certificate to Overstock.com (Alan Torres)
  • Free slot play at Cache Creek Casino Resort
  • Cloud storage on Netsuite
  • Some Saag's hot dog coupons (Matt Young)
  • A bottle of Liquid Plumr (Nick Mediati)
  • A home alarm system from Bay Alarm
  • Sean Doolittle (Eireann Dolan)
  • Sport Clips haircuts
  • 3,000 free Round Table pizzas
  • A discount on your State Farm car insurance
  • 47 pallets of Zevia (@RallyPlantain)
  • 10,000 cartons of Dreyer's Dibs
  • A season of A's games on the radio without the Kars-4-Kids jingle
  • BART tickets
  • A free giraffe from the Oakland Zoo
  • All-you-can-eat in the Amtrak Capitol Corridor Snack Car

And while the @Athletics twitter account did its best, it could not match what the Giants were offering, prompting Matt Vasgersian to quip on this morning's MLB Network Hot Stove, "If you vote for Sean Doolittle, the A's will buy you a one-way bus ticket to Fresno."

52-48 though, for a fanbase not incentivized by trips to the Yucatan or jerseys or things like that, is wonderful. Sean Doolittle is grateful for it all:

Doolittle added, to MLB.com's Jane Lee:

"I'll take that as a sign of respect I guess. They had to pull out their big guns," he said playfully, pausing for a few seconds, before adding, "That's borderline desperation. But good for them."

Begrudge not the Giants for using the resources they have. It's an odd year after all.

More From Athletics Nation