The A’s had fallen, tortuously, in the playoffs once again. The defeat offered zero consolation. There were no moral victories.
In their shattered clubhouse, Billy Beane lost it, railing about the payroll disparity separating the two teams.
But on the field, they had been so close.
So close…
As the Red Sox raucously celebrated that night, ready to challenge the New York Yankees, ready to spit in the face of history, one lingering, exhausting thought couldn’t have been far from their minds.
They had survived.