October 7, 2026
October 7, 2026
2002 Oakland Athletics: Moneyball and 20
The heartbreak that came with the ending of the 2001 season would be quickly erased by the tremendous 2002 Oakland Athletics campaign that followed. Highly regarded as one of the most exciting seasons in the history of Major League Baseball, the Oakland Athletics gave baseball fans across North America something to talk about and cheer for.
The unbelievable success of the Athletics wouldn’t have been possible without the ingenuity of the team’s front office. General Manager Billy Beane needed to make a splash in baseball, and the Athletics didn’t have much money in their payroll to work with, so Beane devised a plan to make the Athletics competitive despite their lack of resources. That plan would be “Moneyball,” a system built around acquiring players based on their in-game production. Sabermetrics is a key component of Moneyball.
The 2002 Oakland Athletics went 103-59 to win the American League West by 4 games over the Anaheim Angels, the team who would go on to win the American League Wild Card and then the World Series. The Athletics went 11-9 against the Angels in head-to-head play.
Shortstop Miguel Tejada batted .308 with 34 home runs and 131 RBIs off 204 hits, 30 doubles and 7 stolen bases. First baseman Scott Hatteberg batted .280 with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs off 138 hits, 22 doubles and 4 triples. Third baseman Eric Chavez batted .275 with 34 home runs and 109 RBIs off 161 hits, 31 doubles, 3 triples and 8 stolen bases. Second baseman Mark Ellis batted .272 with 94 hits, 16 doubles and 4 triples. Right fielder Jermaine Dye had 24 home runs and 86 RBIs off 123 hits and 27 doubles. Center fielder Terrence Long had 16 home runs and 67 RBIs off 141 hits, 32 doubles and 4 triples. Left fielder David Justice had 11 home runs, 106 hits, 18 doubles and 3 triples in 118 games. Catcher Ramon Hernandez had 94 hits and 20 doubles.
Acquired in a trade on May 22 from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for left fielder Jeremy Giambi, left fielder John Mabry batted .275 with 11 home runs, 53 hits and 13 doubles in 89 games. Acquired in a trade from the Chicago White Sox on July 25 in exchange for relief pitcher Jon Adkins and cash, second baseman and designated hitter Ray Durham batted .274 with 60 hits, 14 doubles, 4 triples and 6 stolen bases in 54 games. First baseman Olmedo Saenz batted .276 with 10 doubles in 68 games.
The Athletics of the 2000s were famous for their amazing starting rotation, which featured a terrific trio of pitchers who were characters in their own right. Barry Zito went 23-5 with 182 strikeouts and a 2.75 ERA, recording 1 complete game. Mark Mulder went 19-7 with 159 strikeouts and a 3.47 ERA, recording 2 complete games and 1 shutout. Tim Hudson went 15-9 with 152 strikeouts and a 2.98 ERA, recording 4 complete games and 2 shutouts. Despite going 8-10, Corey Lidle fared well by posting 111 strikeouts, a 3.89 ERA, 2 complete games and 2 shutouts. Aaron Harang went 5-4 as a starter. Erik Hiljus went 3-3 in 9 starts.
Closer Billy Koch was Oakland’s “Wild Thing” at the end of the bullpen as he went 11-4 with 44 saves, 93 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. Relief pitcher Chad Bradford stood out for his submarine throwing motion, going 4-2 with 2 saves and a 3.11 ERA. Jim Mecir was one of the very few pitchers in baseball to throw the screwball, a reverse curveball. Mecir went 6-4 with 1 save. Mike Venafro went 2-2. Micah Bowie went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA.
The significance of the 2002 Oakland Athletics lies in the statistics. The Athletics only went 10-17 in May, but they more than made up for it in every other month. The Athletics went 15-11 in April, 21-7 in June, 15-12 in July, 24-4 in August and 18-8 in September. In blowout games where the final margin was 5 runs or more, the Athletics went 29-18.
Many fans will point to the outstanding 20-game winning streak, but leading up to that great streak were 2 separate 8-game winning streaks. The first streak started with a 10-4 Athletics victory over the Seattle Mariners on June 6, and it ended with a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on June 14. The second 8-game winning streak began with a 2-1 win over the Giants on June 16, and that streak conveniently ended with a 13-2 pounding of the Mariners on June 24.
August was the best month the Athletics ever experienced, as they began their monumental 20-game winning streak on August 13 with a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The winning kept coming for Oakland from that point on, and it would finally end on September 4 with a thrilling 12-11 win over the Kansas City Royals. Through the course of the winning streak, the Athletics outscored their opponents by a combined 149-65.
As exciting as the team proved to be, the 2002 Oakland Athletics couldn’t maintain their momentum and took an early exit from the postseason, falling to the Minnesota Twins 3 games to 2.
In Game 2 on October 2 at Network Associates Coliseum, the Athletics pounded the Twins 9-1. Mark Mulder pitched 6 innings and gave up 5 hits, 2 walks and 1 run while recording 3 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 1st inning, Eric Chavez blasted a 3-run home run. In the bottom of the 4th, Miguel Tejada had an RBI double, David Justice had a 3-run triple, and Mark Ellis topped it off with an RBI double. In the bottom of the 5th, Scott Hatteberg had an RBI single. The Twins got their only run in the top of the 6th when shortstop Christian Guzman hit a solo home run.
In Game 3 on October 4 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Athletics defeated the Twins 6-3. In the top of the 1st inning, Ray Durham had an inside-the-park solo home run, and then Hatteberg followed with a solo home run. In the top of the 4th, Terrence Long went deep with a solo home run of his own. In the bottom of the 4th, Minnesota got on the board with an RBI single by catcher A.J. Pierzynski. In the bottom of the 5th, third baseman Corey Koskie had an RBI triple, and center fielder Torii Hunter followed with an RBI single. In the top of the 6th, Jermaine Dye hit a solo home run of his own. In the top of the 7th, pinch-hitting first baseman Randy Velarde had an RBI double, and then Tejada had a sacrifice fly to score Velarde.
Though they gave up a 2-games-to-1 series lead to Minnesota, the 2002 Oakland Athletics and their fans could say that their campaign was one of the most successful in franchise history. The initial success of Billy Beane’s Moneyball method eventually led to the development of a movie titled Moneyball, which hit theaters years later in 2011.
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