2014 ALCS
The Swingin' A's of Oakland
The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California, from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) West Division and played its home games at the Oakland Coliseum throughout their entire time in Oakland. The franchise won four World Series championships while based in Oakland.
- Series result
- Athletics win, 4 games to 2
- Key moment
- Josh Reddick walk-off HR, Game 6
- Manager (A's)
- Bob Melvin
- General Manager (A's)
- Billy Beane
- Venues
- O.co Coliseum (Oakland) / Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City)
- Payroll context
- One of the lowest in MLB at the time
Lore & Background
The Athletics moved to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968, where the team had previously relocated in 1954 from its original home in Philadelphia. The Athletics were successful in Oakland, winning four World Series championships, six American League pennants, and 17 Western Division titles. Despite the team's accomplishments, the Athletics left Oakland after the 2024 season, citing the aging Oakland Coliseum and inability to secure taxpayer funding for a new ballpark in the East Bay or San Jose areas. In 2025, the team relocated to West Sacramento as the Athletics, with an eventual planned relocation to the Las Vegas metropolitan area on a permanent basis. The move marked the end of professional major league sports in Oakland.
In Their Own Story
The O.co Coliseum is quiet in a way only a working-class ballpark can be. No luxury suites, no corporate concourse—just 40,000 people in flannel shirts and flannel hats, the concrete steps still warm from a California evening. The score is tied, 4–4, top of the ninth. The Royals' bullpen is exhausted. You can feel the collective held breath of a city that has been told, season after season, that its team is 'too cheap to win.' Then Reddick loads the bat, the Royals' reliever winds up, and the crack of the bat echoes off the bleachers like a gunshot. The ball sails over the left-field wall and into the dark. The Coliseum detonates. Strangers hug. Someone's beer goes flying. For one night, the dollar bill in the pennant pocket feels heavier than any championship ring.
Reader's Guide
The Oakland Athletics had an overall win–loss record of 4,614–4,387–1 (.513) during their 56 years in Oakland. Seventeen former Oakland Athletics players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, of which Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson, and Dick Williams are depicted in the Hall with an Oakland Athletics cap.
Did You Know?
- The Athletics won four World Series championships while based in Oakland.
- The team's first winning record in Oakland was 82–80 in 1968.
- Catfish Hunter pitched a perfect game for the Athletics on May 8, 1968.
- The 1972 World Series was termed 'The Hairs vs. the Big Squares' due to the A's mustaches.
More in Iconic Matches
Elsewhere in the Oakland Athletics universe
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