How the 2002 Oakland A's, the Moneyball team, won 20 straight games, then an American League record, who was on the roster, and how the season ended.
Quick answer: The 2002 Oakland Athletics, the club at the center of Michael Lewis's book Moneyball, went 103-59 and won the AL West under manager Art Howe and general manager Billy Beane. From August 13 to September 4 they won 20 straight games, an American League record at the time, then lost the Division Series to Minnesota in five games.
What Made the 2002 A's the Moneyball Team?
The 2002 season is the one Michael Lewis followed for his 2003 book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which was later adapted into the 2011 film. The story starts with what Oakland lost. During the 2001-02 offseason the A's watched three key free agents leave for bigger markets: 2000 AL MVP Jason Giambi signed with the New York Yankees, outfielder Johnny Damon went to the Boston Red Sox, and closer Jason Isringhausen joined the St. Louis Cardinals, as the 2002 Oakland Athletics season summary lays out.
Beane did not try to replace those players one for one. Scott Hatteberg, who had spent his Red Sox career mostly at catcher, signed with Oakland in January 2002 and moved to first base. David Justice was added to the outfield and designated hitter mix. Billy Koch arrived by trade from Toronto to take over as closer, and Ray Durham was acquired during the season to add another bat.
The common thread was on-base ability. Hatteberg finished the year with a .374 on-base percentage and 68 walks, and Justice posted a .376 on-base percentage, both per Baseball-Reference's 2002 A's page. Neither looked like a classic star on a baseball card. Both kept innings alive, which was the whole point.
How Did the A's Win 20 Games in a Row?
The streak began from a low point. On August 12 the A's lost 2-1 at home to the Toronto Blue Jays and sat at 68-51, four and a half games behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West, according to the 2002 schedule and results. The SABR Games Project account notes Oakland was also trailing Boston and Anaheim in the wild-card race at that point.
Then the A's stopped losing. Here is how the 20 wins broke down:
- Toronto, at home: 2 wins (August 13 and 14) to close the series.
- Chicago White Sox, at home: a 3-game sweep, including a 1-0 win on August 16.
- At Cleveland: a 4-game sweep, which pulled Oakland into a tie for first place.
- At Detroit: a 3-game sweep.
- At Kansas City: a 3-game sweep.
- Minnesota, at home: a 3-game sweep, finished by Miguel Tejada's walk-off three-run homer on September 1 for win number 18.
- Kansas City, at home: 2 wins, a 7-6 walk-off on September 2 (Tejada again, with a ninth-inning single) and the 12-11 classic on September 4.
Across those 20 games the A's outscored opponents 141-65, with ten wins at home and ten on the road. The rotation carried the load: Barry Zito and Tim Hudson won four games apiece during the run, Cory Lidle and Mark Mulder won three each, and Koch picked up three wins in relief. When the streak ended, Oakland was 88-51 and three and a half games up in the division.
Win number 19 tied the American League record shared by the 1906 Chicago White Sox and the 1947 New York Yankees, per SABR. Win number 20 broke it, and the A's held the AL record alone for 15 years, until the 2017 Cleveland Indians won 22 straight. As MLB.com noted when Cleveland's run ended, the A's 20 in a row was the previous AL record.
What Happened in the 20th Straight Win?
The September 4 game against the Kansas City Royals drew 55,528 fans to the Coliseum, which SABR describes as the largest crowd to see the team since the Athletics moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1967. Oakland scored six runs in the first inning and led 11-0 after three, chasing Paul Byrd and Darrell May.
The lead did not hold. Kansas City scored five runs in the fourth, kept chipping away, and tied the game 11-11 in the top of the ninth when pinch hitter Luis Alicea singled off Koch to score pinch runner Kit Pellow.
In the bottom of the ninth, with one out, Howe sent Hatteberg up to pinch-hit for Eric Byrnes against Royals reliever Jason Grimsley. Hatteberg drove a pitch into the right-field seats for a 12-11 walk-off win, his first career walk-off home run according to SABR, and the 20th consecutive victory.
The streak ended two days later with a 6-0 loss to Brad Radke and the Twins in Minnesota. For context, the 1916 New York Giants won 26 straight games, though SABR notes that streak included a tie in the middle.
How Did the 2002 A's Score and Prevent Runs?
club at the center of Michael Lewis's book Moneyball, went 103-59 and won the AL West under manager Art Howe and general manager Billy Beane.
The streak was not a fluke run by an average team. Over the full season, Baseball-Reference credits the 2002 A's with 800 runs scored and 654 allowed, a margin of 146 runs. The offense hit 205 home runs and posted a team on-base percentage of .339 and a slugging percentage of .432. The pitching staff finished with a 3.68 ERA and struck out 1,021 batters.
The club had shown flashes before August, too. SABR's account of the season points out that the A's won 16 of 17 games during a stretch in June, then hovered behind Seattle through most of the summer before the streak flipped the standings. Home attendance for the season was 2,169,811, eighth among the 14 American League clubs, which is part of why the 55,528 who showed up for win number 20 stood out so sharply.
Those numbers also explain the Moneyball argument in miniature. The lineup did not need a single superstar on-base threat once Giambi left. It spread on-base ability across the order, with Hatteberg, Justice, Ellis and Durham all reaching base at a .350 clip or better, while Tejada, Chavez and Dye supplied most of the power.
Who Was on the 2002 Oakland A's Roster?
For the full name-by-name list, see our 2002 Oakland Athletics roster page. These were the core contributors, with season stats from Baseball-Reference.
Lineup
- Ramon Hernandez, C: 136 games, .233 average, 7 home runs.
- Scott Hatteberg, 1B: 136 games, .280/.374/.433, 15 home runs, 61 RBI.
- Mark Ellis, 2B: 98 games as a rookie, .272/.359/.394.
- Miguel Tejada, SS: 162 games, .308 average, 34 home runs, 131 RBI, 204 hits.
- Eric Chavez, 3B: 153 games, .275 average, 34 home runs, 109 RBI.
- David Justice, LF: 118 games, .266/.376/.410, 70 walks.
- Terrence Long, CF: 162 games, 16 home runs, 67 RBI.
- Jermaine Dye, RF: 131 games, 24 home runs, 86 RBI.
- Ray Durham, DH and 2B: 54 games after his midseason arrival, .274/.350/.457.
- John Mabry, utility: 89 games, .275 with 11 home runs after a May trade from Philadelphia.
Starting Rotation: the Big Three
- Barry Zito: 23-5, 2.75 ERA, 182 strikeouts in 229.1 innings.
- Mark Mulder: 19-7, 3.47 ERA.
- Tim Hudson: 15-9, 2.98 ERA in 238.1 innings.
- Cory Lidle: 8-10, 3.89 ERA in 30 starts.
- Aaron Harang: 5-4 in 15 starts as a rookie.
Bullpen
- Billy Koch: 44 saves, 3.27 ERA, 84 appearances.
- Chad Bradford: 75 appearances, 3.11 ERA, the right-handed submariner who became one of the book's best-known characters.
- Jim Mecir: 61 appearances, 6-4.
What Awards Did the 2002 A's Win?
The 2002 club produced two of the league's biggest individual honors. Miguel Tejada won the AL Most Valuable Player award after a 34-homer, 131-RBI season at shortstop, and Barry Zito won the AL Cy Young Award after leading the staff with 23 wins. Both were All-Stars. Eric Chavez added a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger at third base, and Koch received down-ballot MVP votes, per Baseball-Reference's award notes for the season.
That detail matters for how the Moneyball story is sometimes told. The 2002 A's were not a roster of anonymous on-base specialists. They had an MVP shortstop, a Cy Young lefty, a Gold Glove third baseman and three starting pitchers who each won at least 15 games. The front office's edge was in how it filled the rest of the roster around that core.
How Did the 2002 Season End?
Oakland finished 103-59, four games ahead in the AL West, and opened the Division Series at home against the Minnesota Twins. The series went the distance:
- Game 1 (Oakland): Twins 7, A's 5.
- Game 2 (Oakland): A's 9, Twins 1.
- Game 3 (Minnesota): A's 6, Twins 3.
- Game 4 (Minnesota): Twins 11, A's 2.
- Game 5 (Oakland): Twins 5, A's 4.
The 3-2 series loss ended the season on October 6, with Game 5 lost by a single run at home. For all the regular-season wins, the 2002 team is remembered for the streak and the book rather than for October.
Why Does the Moneyball Team Still Matter in Las Vegas?
The franchise that will play on the Las Vegas Strip carries this history with it. The 20-game streak still ranks among the longest in major league history, and the ideas that built the 2002 roster influenced front offices across the sport. We trace that influence, and what it could mean for how the team is built going forward, in our feature on Moneyball's legacy in Las Vegas. If you want to compare the 2002 group with the franchise's earlier championship teams, our World Series history hub covers all nine titles.
Sources
- Baseball-Reference, 2002 Oakland Athletics season (record, roster, batting and pitching stats, awards)
- Baseball-Reference, 2002 Oakland Athletics schedule and results (game-by-game streak results, ALDS scores)
- SABR Games Project, September 4, 2002: Moneyball Oakland A's win 20th game in a row on Scott Hatteberg's walk-off homer (streak context, attendance, AL record)
- MLB.com, 'The Streak' lives on in Indians, MLB history (2017 Cleveland 22-game streak, A's 20 as the previous AL record)
- Wikipedia, 2002 Oakland Athletics season (offseason departures, Moneyball book and film)
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many games in a row did the 2002 A's win?
Twenty, from August 13 to September 4, 2002, breaking the AL record of 19 shared by the 1906 White Sox and 1947 Yankees. It stood as the AL record until the 2017 Cleveland Indians won 22 straight.
Who hit the home run for the A's 20th straight win?
Scott Hatteberg, pinch-hitting for Eric Byrnes with one out in the bottom of the ninth. His solo homer off Jason Grimsley beat Kansas City 12-11 after the A's had blown an 11-0 lead.
What was the 2002 Oakland A's record?
103-59, first in the AL West by four games, under manager Art Howe and general manager Billy Beane. The A's then lost the Division Series to the Minnesota Twins, 3 games to 2.
Who were the stars of the 2002 Moneyball A's?
Miguel Tejada won AL MVP with 34 home runs and 131 RBI, Barry Zito won the AL Cy Young at 23-5, and Eric Chavez hit 34 homers. Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder rounded out the Big Three rotation.
Which players did the A's lose before the 2002 season?
Jason Giambi left for the New York Yankees, Johnny Damon for the Boston Red Sox, and closer Jason Isringhausen for the St. Louis Cardinals. Beane added Scott Hatteberg, David Justice and closer Billy Koch.
Is Moneyball about the 2002 Oakland A's?
Yes. Michael Lewis followed the 2002 Athletics for his 2003 book Moneyball, later made into a 2011 film. Both center on Billy Beane's front office and the season that produced the 20-game winning streak.