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Good morning afternoon evening, Athletics Nation!
The Oakland A’s didn’t win the World Series in 2020, but they still had a wonderful season and made the most of an all-around tough year.
Last week, the A’s held a fan vote on Twitter to determine the best moment of the summer. There were plenty of memories to choose from, and 16 of them went into a single-elimination bracket. Follow along with the voting updates here, here, here, and here.
The final vote began Friday morning, pitting two favorites: Matt Olson’s Opening Day walk-off grand slam against the Los Angeles Angels, and Liam Hendriks’ save in the deciding Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against the Chicago White Sox to seal Oakland’s first postseason series victory in over a decade.
The two highlights bookended the rest of the thrilling campaign, with one coming on the first day of action and the other coming on one of the very last. The fans preferred the playoff heroics of HercuLiam — out of 609 votes cast, 59.1% went to Hendriks.
The people have spoken: Liam Hendriks closing it out to send the squad to the ALDS is your favorite 2020 A’s moment! #RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/4EC2PQhxir
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) November 21, 2020
The All-Star closer received plenty of national attention this year. He won the AL Reliever of the Year award, was the only AL reliever to get Cy Young votes (finished 9th), and was the only member of the A’s to garner MVP votes (finished 13). He’s expected to get a hefty contract this winter in free agency, too, even if it might end up less than it would have in a normal winter after a full season.
Now Hendriks can add this very important and scientific Twitter election win to his list of 2020 achievements. Congrats!
A’s Coverage
- Brazil: Why Bassitt blames himself for A’s ALDS loss to Astros
- Nico: Minor League Progress Hard To Gauge
- Wild trade idea: A’s and Mets could transform each other’s offseasons
MLB News & Interest
- Sherman: Mets’ roster conundrums will provide early test for Steve Cohen: Sherman
- Today in Baseball History
Best of Twitter
Division rivals staffing up their front office
New Angels GM Perry Minasian is hiring three former colleagues from the Braves, sources tell The Athletic. Alex Tamin will be assistant GM, Dominic Chiti special assistant and Rick Williams a scout.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 22, 2020
Finally the Angels get the outfielder they’ve been lacking
Free-agent outfielder Scott Schebler signed a minor-league deal with the #Angels that will pay him $900,000 if he's in the big leagues. He spent last season in Atlanta's organization where Perry Minasian was the assistant GM before being hired last week as the #Angels new GM.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) November 21, 2020
Bummer for the former A’s prospect, who hit 31 homers in 2019 and then had a 119 wRC+ in the short 2020
BREAKING: The Orioles designated Renato Núñez to clear space for six prospects on the 40-man roster. Núñez led the O's in homers over the past two seasons.
— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) November 20, 2020
Upcoming fundraiser!
We're teaming up with our friends from all over the Bay Area for a special #BayAreaUnite Giving Tuesday fundraiser. Join us from Dec. 1-4 by making an online donation to help support our initiatives serving Bay Area youth. Stay tuned next week for the donation link! pic.twitter.com/y3p3NEDzsb
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) November 23, 2020
... more info on the fundraiser
The A's are coming together with Bay Area sports teams for special #BayAreaUnite Giving Tuesday fundraiser from Dec. 1-4. pic.twitter.com/37YdzTHdTE
— AthleticsPR (@AthleticsPR) November 23, 2020
