Major League Baseball: Biggest Surprises and Disappointments of 2018

ESPN senior writer David Schoenfield breaks down this season in The Show.

Khris Davis #2 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a seventh inning solo homerun against the Colorado Rockies during interleague play at Coors Field on July 29, 2018 in Denver, Colorado.  (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
Khris Davis #2 of the Oakland Athletics is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a seventh inning solo homerun against the Colorado Rockies during interleague play at Coors Field on July 29, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
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At 80-53 and just out of first place in the AL West as of Wednesday, the Oakland Athletics have to be one of, if not the, biggest stunner of the 2018 Major League Baseball season.

Projected to win fewer than 80 games by both FanGraphs and the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, the A’s have already surpassed that win total and it isn’t even September yet.

Almost assured a playoff berth via the Wild Card, the A’s may finish in first ahead of the defending champion Astors.

They’re a shocker right out of left field – but they aren’t the only one in a season that’s been full of ‘em.

In a piece on the Worldwide Leader, ESPN senior writer David Schoenfield breaks down the biggest surprises and disappointments of this season in The Show.

In addition to the A’s, Schoenfield has the glut of talented young National League outfielders, the emergence of Max Muncy for the Dodgers, and Jose Ramirez being a legit MVP candidate on the surprises side of the equation.

On the list of his disappointments, Schoenfield counts the performance of the Orioles, the Nationals, and the subpar way a number of high-priced free agent signees (Eric Hosmer, Padres, Yu Darvish, Carlos Santana, etc.) have performed for their new teams.

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