September 4, 2002: In what has to be the craziest game of the Major League Baseball season, the Oakland Athletics blow an 11-0 lead, but beat the Kansas City Royals, 12-11 at the Oakland Coliseum -- which didn't seem like such a terrible place to watch a baseball game at the time. (It was then named the Network Associates Coliseum.)
The A's had been in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967, then moved to Oakland. They were replaced in Kansas City by the expansion Royals in 1969. From 1971 to 1992, either the A's or the Royals won the American League Western Division title 16 out of 22 seasons.
The A's scored 6 runs in the 1st inning, 1 in the 2nd, and 4 in the 3rd. 61400. If that were a ZIP Code in current use, it would be in Galesburg, Illinois. (Galesburg uses 61401 and 61402.) But the Royals scored 5 in the 4th, and 5 more in the 8th, to make it 11-10.
In the top of the 9th, Luis Alicea tied the game, singling home Kit Pellow. But in the bottom of the 9th, with 1 out, A's catcher Scott Hatteberg hit a home run to win it.
This was the 20th straight win for the A's, setting a new American League record. The Chicago White Sox had won 19 straight in 1906, and the New York Yankees had tied that mark in 1947. The major league record, at this point, was 21 straight, but the 1935 Chicago Cubs. The Cleveland Indians raised the record to 22 straight in 2017.
In 1884, the National League's Providence Grays and the Union Association's St. Louis Maroons each had a 20-game winning streak. The 1880 Chicago White Stockings, forerunners of the Cubs, won 22 straight decisions; and the 1916 New York Giants won 26 straight decisions. However, each of those streaks included tie games.
The A's had won the AL West title in 2000 and 2001, led by a starting pitching "Big Three" of Barry Zito, Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson. They had lost slugging 1st baseman Jason Giambi to free agency, but they still had Hatteberg, shortstop Miguel Tejada, 3rd baseman Eric Chavez, center fielder Terrence Long and right fielder Jermaine Dye. They added left fielder David Justice, for what turned out to be his last season; and designated hitter Ray Durham. Billy Koch had a good season as their closer.
The streak began on August 13, with a 5-4 home win over the Toronto Blue Jays. They were 4 1/2 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West. By August 28, they led the Division by 4 games over the Mariners. The streak ended on September 6, as they lost 6-0 to the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome.
The A's also had an 8-game winning streak from June 6 to 14; and another from June 16 to 24, meaning they won 16 out of 17. They ended up going 103-59, which remains the franchise's highest win total since also winning 103 in 1990. But the Twins, the team that ended their streak, also ended their season, beating them 3 games to 2 in the AL Division Series.
The A's won the AL Pennant in 1990. From 1991 to 2021, 31 seasons, they have been to 13 postseason rounds, and won only 1 of them, the 2006 ALDS, and they were then swept in the ALCS.
If the A's had won the World Series in 2002? It probably wouldn't have mattered: Later ownership would probably still have broken them up to the point where they would be in danger of moving.
The '02 A's record, and the '35 Cubs' record, stood until 2017, when the Cleveland Indians won 22 straight.
UPDATE: After the 2024 season, the A's moved to Sacramento, in preparation for a new stadium opening in Las Vegas.
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September 4, 2002 was a Monday, Labor Day. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-1 at Yankee Stadium. Andy Pettitte outpitched Derek Lowe. The aforementioned Jason Giambi hit a home run. Derek Jeter went 1-for-4.
* The New York Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 11-3 at Shea Stadium. The Mets got home runs from Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, Jeromy Burnitz and Ty Wigginton.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 8-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. Damian Moss pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the 5-hit shutout.
* The Anaheim Angels beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 4-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-2 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-3 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Carlos Zambrano pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Antonio Alfonseca finished a 4-hit shutout.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-1 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.
* And the Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-2 at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in Seattle.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 5-1 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).
* And the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 1-for-4.
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