Elephant Rumblings: A’s power ranking roundup for May

Happy Tuesday, Athletics Nation!

We’re now two months into the 2022 season and the memories of a December-March lockout seem distant in the face of daily baseball. The season is nearly a third complete, and the Athletics are sitting at the bottom of the AL West with a 20-31 win/loss record. May was a tough month for the A’s with a couple extended stretches of losses, and seemingly the only sign of life was beating up on the also-struggling Tigers for four wins mid-month.

When we last looked at power rankings, the A’s had been buoyed by a surprising April, just dipping below the .500 mark at the end of the month. Now performance has seemed a lot more like what was originally prognosticated for the team, with a sub-.400 win percentage.

Let’s see where the baseball world slots the Athletics in this month:

Site - Rank (End of April rank)

• MLB.com - 27/30 (23/30)
• ESPN - 25/30 (20/30)
• The Athletic - 25/30 (22/30)
• Sports Illustrated - 24/30 (21/30)
• CBS Sports - 25/30 (21/30)
• theScore - 25/30 (23/30)
• FanGraphs - 25/30 (20/30)

It seems like an easy consensus of the A’s skill, not doing great but managing to just barely stay out of the still-dont-have-20-wins club. Averaging 25th place isn’t necessarily what you want to see for your favourite team, but it’s just high enough that you get to say “well it could be worse, I could be a Royals fan right now”.

Multiple write-ups note the A’s statistical struggles: last in wRC+ in the AL, Cristian Pache’s league-lowest OPS, being on pace for a worst-ever home record. It’s not great, but it’s quite reflective of Athletics baseball in May. Here’s hoping for a rebound to the high 20s and above in June.

A’s Coverage

• Ashford: Game #51: Valdez shuts down A’s in 5-1 loss
• Kawahara: A’s lose 5-1 to Astros as Framber Valdez outduels Paul Blackburn ($)
• Gallegos: ‘Lot of positives’ for Blackburn despite loss
• Kawahara: A’s well-traveled reliever Parker Markel continues his ‘wild ride’ ($)
• Castrovince: Your favourite contender just might nab one of these starters (Frankie Montas discussed)
• Maun: Dominant Rodriguez headlines Prospect Team of the Week (Jonah Bride named 3B of the week in first week in AAA)
• Brazil: Coliseum bullpens: Last of their kind (video)

MLB News & Interest

• ESPN: Memorial Day MLB standings check: Which teams are the biggest surprises and letdowns so far?
• Randhawa: How the new-look playoff picture is shaping up
• Yoo: KBO commissioner proposes holding season openers in U.S. in meeting with MLB official
• Foolish Baseball: Corbin Burnes Is a Physics Problem (video)
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter

Shooty sez: Paul Blackburn is LA-bound

Kevin Smith is ok after leaving the game yesterday

I don’t know if you can call this fundamentals, but it’s sure entertaining

Didn’t realize it was Chris Bassitt bobblehead night in Queens

Never like to post a highlight of a division rival, but it’s an absolutely astounding home run robbery by Eli White