The 1994 Oakland Athletics' season was the team's 27th season in Oakland, California. It was also the 94th season in franchise history. The team finished second in the American League West with a record of 51–63.

The Athletics' 1994 campaign ranks among the most unusual in franchise history. A disastrous 1993 campaign, attributable mainly to inept pitching, had tempered expectations in Oakland; while several established stars (namely Dennis Eckersley, Bob Welch, Terry Steinbach, Mark McGwire, and a recently re-signed Rickey Henderson) remained with the team in 1994, questions about the starting rotation, bullpen, and infield kept expectations low.

The Athletics belied these low expectations with a 7–5 start. The team's pitching staff continued to hemorrhage runs (allowing 79 in 12 games); the staff was bailed out, however, by their red-hot offense (which scored 93 runs over the same span). On April 17 (the day of Oakland's seventh win), the A's were 1.5 games ahead of the second-place California Angels.

The Athletics' offense soon cooled down, however. This drop in production, combined with continued pitching woes, set the stage for a monumental collapse. Between April 19 and May 29, Oakland lost 31 games in 37 tries; at the end of this span, their record stood at 13–36. The A's, then firmly in last place, trailed the division-leading Angels (who also had a sub-.500 record) by nine games. Oakland continued to lose ground over the following two weeks; at their absolute nadir, the Athletics' 19–43 record trailed the division-leading Rangers (who had since overtaken the Angels) by 12.5 games.

The A's, instead, launched themselves back into contention with a turnaround. Over their next 22 games, the Athletics went 19–3; this surge raised their record to 38–46. Oakland's much-maligned pitching staff powered the resurgence; over the 22-game span, Athletics pitchers allowed 3.27 runs per game (while pitching six shutouts). The rest of the division struggled over the same span; as such, Oakland's 38th victory allowed it to pull within three games of the first-place Rangers. The A's cooled down in subsequent weeks; poor play from the rest of the division, however, allowed them to gain further ground. The team finished with a 51–63 record; despite being 12 games under .500, the A's were only one game behind the first-place Rangers. All four of the American League West's teams finished the strike-shortened season with losing records. This is the only such instance in MLB history.

The 1994 Players' strike ended the season (and the A's postseason hopes) entirely. While the Rangers would win their first-ever division title in 1996, the A's would have to wait until 2000 to return to the postseason.

Offseason November 16, 1993: Mike Aldrete was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. December 13, 1993: Billy Taylor was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. December 17, 1993: Rickey Henderson was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. December 20, 1993: Kurt Abbott was traded by the Athletics to the Florida Marlins for Kerwin Moore. December 23, 1993: Dave Righetti was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

Regular season Despite compiling a record of 51–63 by Friday, August 12, the Athletics were only one game behind the Texas Rangers for the lead in the AL West Division. They had scored 549 runs (4.82 per game) and allowed 589 runs (5.17 per game).

The Athletics finished the strike-shortened season 28th in triples, with just 13, but they led the Majors in sacrifice flies, with 51.

Despite walking an MLB-high 510 batters, the Athletics tied the Chicago White Sox for the most shutouts pitched, with 9.

Transactions April 27, 1994: Dave Righetti was released by the Athletics. April 30, 1994: Steve Sax was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. May 10, 1994: Jeff Schaefer was signed as a free agent by the Athletics. June 2, 1994: 1994 Major League Baseball draft Jason Beverlin was drafted by the Athletics in the 4th round. Tim Hudson was drafted by the Athletics in the 35th round, but did not sign.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1994 Oakland Athletics Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches (Pitching) (Bullpen) (Bench) (Hitting) (First Base) (Third Base)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Terry Steinbach 103 369 105 .285 11 57 1B Troy Neel 83 278 74 .266 15 48 2B Brent Gates 64 233 66 .283 2 24 SS Mike Bordick 114 391 99 .253 2 37 3B Scott Brosius 96 324 77 .238 14 49 LF Rickey Henderson 87 296 77 .260 6 20 CF Stan Javier 109 419 114 .272 10 44 RF Rubén Sierra 110 426 114 .268 23 92 DH Gerónimo Berroa 96 340 104 .306 13 65

Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Scott Hemond 91 198 44 .222 3 20 Mike Aldrete 76 178 43 .242 4 18 Mark McGwire 47 135 34 .252 9 25 Craig Paquette 14 49 7 .143 0 0 Eric Fox 26 44 9 .205 1 1 Junior Noboa 17 40 13 .325 0 6 Ernie Young 11 30 2 .067 0 3 Fausto Cruz 17 28 3 .107 0 0 Francisco Matos 14 28 7 .250 0 2 Mike Brumley 11 25 6 .240 0 2 Steve Sax 7 24 6 .250 0 1 Jim Bowie 6 14 3 .214 0 0 Jeff Schaefer 6 8 1 .125 0 0 Eric Helfand 7 6 1 .167 0 1

Pitching

Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Ron Darling 25 160.0 10 11 4.50 108 Bobby Witt 24 135.2 8 10 5.04 111 Todd Van Poppel 23 116.2 7 10 6.09 83 Miguel Jimenez 8 34.0 1 4 7.41 22 Steve Karsay 4 28.0 1 1 2.57 15 Mike Mohler 1 2.1 0 1 7.71 4

Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Steve Ontiveros 27 115.1 6 4 2.65 56 Carlos Reyes 27 78.0 0 3 4.15 57 Bob Welch 25 68.2 3 6 7.08 44

Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Dennis Eckersley 45 5 4 19 4.26 47 Billy Taylor 41 1 3 1 3.50 48 John Briscoe 37 4 2 1 4.01 45 Mark Acre 34 5 1 0 3.41 21 Vince Horsman 33 0 1 0 4.91 20 Dave Leiper 26 0 0 1 1.93 14 Ed Vosberg 16 0 2 0 3.95 12 Edwin Núñez 15 0 0 0 12.00 15 Dave Righetti 7 0 0 0 16.71 4 Steve Phoenix 2 0 0 0 6.23 3 Roger Smithberg 2 0 0 0 15.43 3

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Huntsville

References

External links 1994 Oakland Athletics team page at Baseball Reference 1994 Oakland Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com