Baseball Prospectus released their annual PECOTA projections for the upcoming season Tuesday. As would be expected, the Oakland Athletics are projected for another last place finish in the AL West. However, they are projected for about a 15-win improvement over last season at 64.8 wins.
The Astros are projected to win the division and have the best World Series odds of any American League club at 12.1 percent. The Atlanta Braves (18.7%) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (17.1%) are the World Series favorites per the projections.
Reaching 65 wins would mean that the A’s would avoid a third-straight 100-loss season which is something that has been done only one other time in franchise history. The Philadelphia Athletics lost 100 games in three straight seasons from 1919 through 1921. The Kansas City Athletics lost 100 games in back-to-back seasons in 1964 and 1965 a feat that equaled by the 2022 and 2023 clubs.