Reason for optimism: Fans might not have noticed, but Oakland arguably performed better than the team that won the American League West last year. Reason for pessimism: Fans did notice that the Athletics had the worst record in the AL and t

Reason for optimism: Fans might not have noticed, but Oakland arguably performed better than the team that won the American League West last year. Reason for pessimism: Fans did notice that the Athletics had the worst record in the AL and t