A 4-6 record in the last 10 games has just worsened the Oakland Athletics‘ case. The team is already being bashed online for relocating to Las Vegas, as they now face increased ticket prices and difficulty accessing the games. Many even spammed the team’s account with messages asking owner John Fisher to sell it. Now, amid a restructuring roster, the youngsters are facing the wrath of fans for the team’s lack of offense. But their manager is unhappy to see the fans behaving this way.

“I read a couple of articles yesterday about players receiving a lot of hate… Everyone seems to have the right to be able to send negativity and hate towards those players… there’s really a no-win situation in this. So for these players, it’s about how do you protect them from that negativity,” said manager Mark Kotsay in the interview.

The Athletics are just two games behind the AL West leaders, but the cracks within the team are already visible. Over the last four games, the Athletics have lost 30-6, lost their division lead, and watched an offense that once fired on all cylinders vanish.

A sweep by the Seattle Mariners exposed their weakness. Seattle humiliated them 22-4 across three games. Things did not get any easier against the Yankees, who rolled to an 8-2 victory in Sacramento.

The numbers make it difficult to ignore the slump. The Athletics went just 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position against Seattle and didn’t fare any better against the Yankees.

Nick Kurtz, their star batter, went hitless against the Mariners in all three games. Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers have also struggled to get on base consistently. This left Tyler Soderstrom with very limited chances to drive in runs despite going 4-for-11 against Seattle.

As the losses continue to pile up, frustration from fans has become increasingly visible. And that reality is not something Oakland hasn’t seen.

Just a few days ago, Dodgers star Mookie Betts revealed he had to delete his social media account from his phone after going through an 8-for-54 slump.

“You have to fail so much to figure out what’s right,” Betts said while discussing the hate he got online. The former MVP admitted that the negativity affected his sleep and focus on the game.

And that is exactly why Athletics manager Mark Kotsay chose to address the concern. Kotsay admits that social media has created a difficult environment for every athlete going through slumps.

“There’s no way to escape it unless you delete it. And then when you delete it, you get the hate for not being open to hearing it,” Kotsay said, reminding fans that failure is built into baseball, even for elite players.

“In this game, 70% failure rate, right? And 30% successful rate is actually great. People are in the Hall of Fame because they hit .300, not .700,” Kotsay said while discussing expectations.

With the Oakland Athletics searching for answers, Kotsay’s message was simple: struggling players expect support while working through a bad patch, not another wave of criticism waiting in their messages.

And while the players are facing nightmares on one side, they are having dreams on the other.

The dream of the Athletics in Las Vegas might be close

When the Oakland Athletics announced they were leaving Oakland for Las Vegas, many fans struggled to believe it. For years, stadium talks seemed stuck, the costs kept rising, and the questions never disappeared.

Nearly 3 years after the announcement of the relocation, the dream project seems to be coming through. A recent construction shows the main concourse has been completed, while the crew continues to work on other things.

For a fanbase that spent years hearing promises, seeing actual progress carries a different feeling.

But getting here has not been easy for the Athletics. The management spent years looking for a long-term stadium solution while playing at the Coliseum. And although the team wanted a new ballpark, problems with the funding slowed down the negotiations to a stop, and this happened multiple times.

But that ended on November 16, 2023, when the management announced that the move to Las Vegas had been made official. Nevada officials approved $380 million in public funding to help support the construction of the ballpark.

But even after the official statement, problems kept coming up. At one point, the Nevada Teachers Union sent a formal request against funding the construction of the ballpark and instead use it to fund education. And the concern about rising construction costs and private financing was also lingering.

And it was a major concern for a reason, because the projected cost for the stadium crossed the $2 Billion mark. But despite the growing price tag, the project has continued moving forward without any major delays.

The team’s commitment to this relocation was also put to bed after owner John Fisher pledged $1.1 billion towards the construction back in 2024. Less than a year after this, Fisher announced that the cost had gone beyond the $2 Billion mark.

The debates around the relocation will never completely go away, but this is happening. The latest footage shows more than steel and concrete taking shape at the location. It shows a relocation that was once debated is now moving closer to reality.

And maybe a move to a stadium will help the team and bring out the best in the Athletics.