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No. 6 Oakland Athletics
2000 Record: 91-70 (1st AL West) With a lineup of talented twenty-somethings and a pitching staff that's even younger, the Oakland Athletics may be baseball's most exciting team. They pushed the Yankees and fell just short of the ALCS last year, and could be even better this season. That's because of what the addition of leadoff man Johnny Damon could inject into this offense. He hit .327 last season with the Royals and led the American League with 46 steals and 136 runs scored. Damon and second year man Terrence Long give the A's a dimension of speed to go with sluggers Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Eric Chavez. Pitching was a surprise strength last year with rookie lefties Barry Zito and Mark Mulder making quality starts and veteran Gil Heredia winning 15 games. But the big gun is 25-year-old ace Tim Hudson With Kevin Appier gone, Hudson will face more pressure to be a hammer in the number one spot. Only Pedro Martinez held batters to a lower batting average, and putting Hudson In Focus shows his win totals were very consistent all year, with September being his best month. A run at the AL title is not out of the question for Oakland, and that's why I rank them as the sixth-best team in baseball.
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