MESA, Ariz. -- The A's were supposed to get better in 2018, but how many experts were picking them to win 97 games?
Oakland ended up with more victories than any team in the NL, and all but four in the AL. That all sets an interesting bar.
How do the A's meet or exceed that mark in 2019?
"When I was talking to the club first day of spring training, it's the relationship between success and confidence. What comes first?" A's manager Bob Melvin said from his office.
He continued.
"Do you need to have success to be confident? Or can you be confident and create the success? I think it was the latter for us last year. And now we have both."
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Mike Fiers is likely to make Oakland's first start in 2019. He immediately saw what kind of rare togetherness he was joining last August, well after the trade deadline.
"Just feeling like more of a family than a team," Fiers said. "Everyone was doing whatever they could to win a ballgame and doing everything together. There wasn't one person that was trying to do their own thing."
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Internally, confidence remains high for Oakland. Externally, the team is already viewed much differently than last spring.
"The expectations have changed. We need to embrace that," Melvin said. "We know that we'll be targeted a little more, we won't be able to sneak up on anybody. But I think that's what every team wants, and wants it consistently."
