Oakland A's Stinging Playoff Exit Wraps Up Most Painful Season in Recent History

Arguably the most painful season in Oakland A's history—at least for a fan—has come to an end, with a walk-off loss serving as the proverbial cherry on top.

Oakland has seen its fair share of losing in the playoffs. It's a well-known fact that the team has struggled to make it out of the ALDS under Billy Beane, and the sole time it did so, it was swept in four games. And although fans should be used to this by now—losing in an elimination game by a wild, unforeseeable result—this one hurts much, much worse than any other.

Truly, 2014 was the ultimate blow.

But this letdown didn't begin in April. It began in 2012. Let me explain.

Hardly anyone figured the A's to be contenders at the beginning of 2012. Just check out some of the comments from my March 2012 prediction that Oakland would win the AL West. Or check out this 2012 preview by ESPN's Buster Olney, in which he ranks the A's as fourth-best in the division.

The A's shocked all doubters and won the division in exciting fashion on the final game of the season.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

In fact, it didn't even matter that the A's lost in Game 5 to the Detroit Tigers that year. Because they weren't even supposed to be in playoffs at all, let alone take the Tigers to five games. No matter the obstacle—minus Justin Verlander—the A's overcame, and that became this team's shtick.

In 2013, the goal was to build on the prior year's success and to prove '12 was no fluke.

The A's duked it out for the division lead all year, then finally took over for good on Sept. 6. And once again, they overcame all kinds of injuries. John Jaso had his season shut down, but newcomer Stephen Vogt made fans believers. Rookie pitcher Sonny Gray, who looked like he could pitch in the Little League World Series, came up huge in the postseason.

It could be any guy, any night.

Simply getting into the ALCS would have been enough. But the A's came up one game short on yet another exciting season.

Fast forward to 2014.

Now we know this team is good. The experts are calling for the A's to repeat as AL West winners for a third straight season. With the young-but-solid rotation and the best bullpen in baseball, picking the A's is a no-brainer.

Then Oakland loses Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin, two-fifths of the starting rotation, before the season begins. Injuries. Again.

Expensive acquisition Jim Johnson blows two saves within the first week of the season.

"#BooGate" happens. Fans take to Twitter to argue. We're not even out of April yet.

But the A's overcome adversity. Again.

Jesse Chavez stepped up in a big way. Scott Kazmir continued his late-career turnaround. Gray carried his 2013 success into the new season without a bat of an eye. Sean Doolittle stepped right into the closer role like it was meant to be his from the start.

The team went 59-36 in the first half. That put them on pace for 100 wins.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Then, on July 4, Beane pushed what we thought were all of his chips into the center of the table, acquiring Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija for two top-10 A's prospects and Dan Straily. It was a gutsy move, but it signaled that Beane was looking to go much further than Game 5 of another ALDS.

But Beane wasn't finished.

On July 31, in what felt like five minutes before the trade deadline passed, Beane pulled off a blockbuster: Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes for Yoenis Cespedes.

Once again, fans jumped on one side or another—one faction applauding the move, the other cursing it.

Consider, though, the A's are generally a second-half team. "Moar" (as A's fans on Twitter would say) wins were sure to come.

Oakland lost the division lead 15 games later. They put together just one three-game win streak the rest of the season. The second-half collapse, considered by analysts like Olney to be one of the worst in history, was excruciating.

"What's going on in Oakland?"

On Sept. 17, the Los Angeles Angels clinched the AL West. And as if to add insult to injury, Oakland's Triple-A team, the Sacramento River Cats, announced an affiliation change the very next day. Even more salt in the wound, the Cats partnered with the San Francisco Giants, the team who blocked Oakland's move to San Jose over territory rights.

Of all teams. Of all issues.

The big league squad collapsed. The minor league team an hour away left. It felt like losing your job and coming home to find divorce papers on the table.

Alas, the A's made the playoffs. And of course, it had to be in exciting fashion: game 162, a shutout, with Gray on the hill. The analogy here would be having $5 left of the $100 you started, but you just hit a blackjack, so there's hope again, even if really you just lost $95.

To this point, the A's have built themselves up for two-and-a-half seasons. They've persevered. They've come from behind. They've hushed all doubters. They've overcome blown saves. They've made trades to become even better—World Series favorites even.

Then a lead slowly trickled away, and it felt unhealthy for your heart to watch.

If any one game could encapsulate all of that, it was the Wild Card Game against the Kansas City Royals.

Up 2-0 in the first inning. (There's 2012 and 2013.)

Royals counter with a run in the bottom of the frame. (That's the loss of Parker and Griffin.)

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Then Kansas City scores two more in the third. (There are your blown saves.)

Oakland takes it to them and scores five runs in the sixth. (Kind of like the offense the entire first half.)

The lead slowly trickles away toward the end. (Faltering down the stretch.)

The insult comes in the ninth when the Royals tie a game the A's had seemingly won.

There's one last-ditch effort to keep the hope alive when the Athletics score in the 11th. But like the regular season, they're clearly tired and limping toward the finish after owning a lead multiple times.

And then the dagger. A walk-off. Game over. Season over.

No World Series. No Game 5 ALDS loss. Not even an ALDS, period. And now, no Lester or Cespedes. No Addison Russell or Billy McKinney. No Sacramento River Cats.

And unlike the losses in '12 and '13, it's difficult to find hope for next season.

From the outside looking in, you might think, "why do it to yourselves again?" New fans of Oakland might already be scouting other teams. But no matter how gut-wrenching the 2014 season, you can bet A's fans will be back out there next season, no matter what, chanting, cheering and waving flags.

And that's exactly why they're said to be one of the best groups in baseball.

Perseverance. That's the A's way.