Elephant Rumblings: A’s power ranking roundup for June

Happy Tuesday, Athletics Nation!

Hey everybody, how was your June? Good? Get outside and catch some sun? Well I’m sure that the A’s June went just as well, let me just bring up the standings and—

Oh. Oh no.

June was bad, like only 5 wins in the entire month bad. The last time the A’s had a June that bad was 1979, which also happens to be the last season the A’s lost more than 100 games. Even in 1981 when a strike canceled over half of the month’s games, the A’s managed to sneak in 6 June wins. While a few of this year’s June losses were close ones that easily could have flipped the other way if you were to play them again, it still makes for 21 tough losses to watch for fans.

Let’s see where the baseball world slots the Athletics in as we get into July:

Site - Rank (End of May rank)

• MLB.com - 30/30 (27/30)
• ESPN - 30/30 (25/30)
• The Athletic - 30/30 (25/30)
• Sports Illustrated - 29/30 (24/30)
• CBS Sports - 30/30 (25/30)
• theScore - 30/30 (25/30)
• FanGraphs - 28/30 (25/30)

No surprises here. By the end of May things had taken a bit of a turn, but the A’s were still hanging out with Seattle and Texas in the standings. Now, the rest of the AL West is within 5 games of each other, while the A’s are over 10 games removed from any other division-mate. Due to the holiday yesterday, some of these power rankings are a week or so old, but getting swept by the Yankees and having a pair of near-wins stole by the Mariners isn’t going to suddenly make the A’s shoot up the charts this week.

As of today the Athletics enter the second half of their season. Aside from a make-up double-header with the Tigers that cuts the team’s All-Star break a day short, there is a three week stretch where the A’s will only play against the Rangers and Astros. With no other cellar dwellers to try and get a leg up on in their schedule this month, it may be a rough go for the A’s. There is some potential however — we’re already 2 wins into July with nearly the whole month to go!

A’s Coverage

• Hall: Game #82: Irvin dazzles, A’s lineup provides fireworks in 5-1 win
• Nelson: If I Owned the Oakland Athletics
• Kawahara: A’s win 5-1 over Blue Jays before 24,403, largest home crowd of season ($)
• Thanawalla: Irvin wanted to finish A’s Fourth of July win over Blue Jays
• Bannon: Matt Chapman Reflects on Oakland Years ahead of A’s Return
• Kawahara: Blue Jays’ Matt Chapman back in Coliseum, says ‘A’s should stay in Oakland’ ($)
• Delaney: Meet the Sellers: Oakland Athletics
• Koreen: Blue Jays vs A’s series preview: Matt Chapman makes return with Oakland in basement
• TSN: Blue Jays should be eyeing Frankie Montas (video)

MLB News & Interest

• Doolittle: Is this year’s Shohei Ohtani better than last year’s Shohei Ohtani?
• Merkin: Hendriks advocates for change after Highland Park parade shooting
• Castrovince: The best July 4 moments in baseball history
• Creamer: Flag-Inspired, Stars-and-Stripes Caps Worn Across Baseball Today for Fourth of July
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter

No word yet on Frankie, hopefully MRI results are good

Not too long before Jonah Bride hops off the IL

A’s may not match up against Gausman in this series

The game is like a dance

Part of a Casey Pratt thread on a ballot measure regarding Howard Terminal

While fans not going to the Coli in response to the changes and actions of team ownership is entirely justified, there’s no better park to be at when it’s packed full of A’s fans.