The Oakland Athletics Look To Do More Than Occupy The Basement This Season

The Oakland Athletics laid a bit of an egg last year, but 2010 is a new season and they are hoping to give the fans a lot more to cheer about this season. Nobody is predicting that they will go to the World Series, but everyone is undefeated on the first day of the new season.

The Oakland Athletics have been one of the busier teams this off-season. They may not have made a blockbuster deal, but they have quietly signed some free agents, locked up some young talent and continue to make improvement on last season's. Will they win the division? Who knows, but they are surely going to be a much better team.

The signing of Ben Sheets is a huge coup for Oakland. This is one of the most talented pitchers in the league and he has decided to take on the responsibility of leading this young staff into next season. While he has only signed a one-year deal, there will hopefully be more to come if Oakland can show signs of early life.

It addition to Mr. Sheets taking the ball every 5th day, Andrew Bailey will be there to clean the games up in the ninth inning. While he may not yet be a household name, if he duplicates his performance from last season, it is only a matter of time before everyone who loves baseball is uttering his name. There is little doubt that he will close out the game when the ball gets into his hands.

The offense would probably be considered the weak point of this club, but all is not lost here. They may not have a lot of homerun power, but there is plenty of speed and some pure hitters throughout the lineup. This can actually be more trouble for opposing teams as the threat of a long rally is there every time that they come up to bat.

Something that every young team has in their back pocket is the prospect of not being taken as a serious threat to the major contenders. We have seen many clubs in the past take advantage of that and get deep into the post season. A recent example of this would be the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.

If fans are looking for a reason to spend their hard earned money on tickets, they need look no further than the pitcher that will take the ball on opening day. Ben Sheets is the real deal and he will surely make this a much better ballclub all on his own. If the team follows his lead and gains confidence, the West could get very interesting this season.

By Jake Kohler, sponsored by TicketSeating.com. TicketSeating.com sells Oakland Athletics Tickets, MLB Tickets, Sports Tickets and more to just about any event in the world.