Revitalized A's finish first half unbeaten, untied

11 up, 11 down. The Philadelphia Athletics pulled away from the host Vancouver Cubs for an 8-3 victory to conclude the first half of the 2025 WFBL regular season schedule. It also put the wraps on what was a historic run, with the club winning all 11 of those contests.

After finishing in last place the previous two seasons as the organization underwent a complete rebuild, GM Matt Veasey used the past off-season to reinforce a growing group of young, talented players with proven veterans. That process continued into the early weeks of the season. It has all resulted in near perfection.

"Of course we never expected to go undefeated," said Veasey. "We honestly still don't expect that to continue to be the case. No team has ever gone unbeaten in the history of the league. The numbers, injuries, and other factors always catch up to you at some point. But we knew that we were greatly improved and believed we would be a real contender again. So far, it's worked out well."

Last year's rookie class of outfielders Jackson Chourio, Wyatt Langford, and James Wood and starting pitchers Paul Skenes and Yoshinobu Yamamoto proved so talented in their debuts that the GM believed it was time to bring the rebuilding program to an end.

At the very start of the off-season a series of trades brought in third baseman Alex Bregman, catcher J.T. Realmuto, outfielder Mike Trout, and closer Mason Miller. At the end of January, another deal brought in closer Emmanuel Clase. Just after the season opened, another deal brought home first baseman Bryce Harper. A month later, starting pitcher Jacob deGrom arrived in trade. A month after that, starting pitcher Tanner Bibee became the latest addition to a deep, talented rotation.

"It's hard to mess things up when you're working with this level of talent," said manager Mark DeRosa. "We're trying to fight through some injury problems right now, but so is pretty much every team. These guys are going to keep fighting for every win they can and we'll just see what happens. Our goal remains the playoffs."

With an 11-0 record and a two-game lead in the Owens/East Division, it might be time for the skipper to raise that goal. The A's are clearly once again among the WFBL's elite teams. A 14th pennant and even a fifth league championship are within reach if they don't continue to suffer major injuries moving forward.