A vaunted homegrown pitching staff. A very strong bullpen led by an All-Star closer.
A franchise player behind the plate. A balanced mix of young guys and veterans.
Low expectations. A mild-mannered, baseball-minded manager in the dugout.
A weak, very winnable division where the other teams made negligible offseason improvements.
Last year was a good year for the Giants. And by good year, I mean they won the World Series. Yes, THAT good. And the above statements pretty accurately describe the team at the start of the 2010 season.
And if that’s the recipe for success, it looks like the Oakland Athletics are using the same cookbook for 2011.
Now I’m not going to take that extreme leap of faith and call the A’s the “soon-to-be 2011 World Champions,” but I will say that there are a lot of similarities, both on the team and in the division, that make the comparisons very valid.