In the 2002 baseball season the Oakland A\u2019s pulled off an underdog story for the ages \u2013 in fact, it was such an achievement that it was only a matter of time before a director took the not-so-huge gamble of making it into a movie. Here are the similarities and differences between Bennett Miller\u2019s \u201cMoneyball\u201d and the Oakland A\u2019s 2002 unbeaten run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In the climax of the film, the Oakland A\u2019s won their twentieth game in a row in dramatic fashion, making Major Baseball League history in doing so. They became the first American team in history to go on such a winning streak, and it was mainly due to Billy Beane\u2019s data-driven, analytical view of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly to in the film version, the Athletics played the Kansas City Royals for their twentieth win, and it was Scott Hatteberg, who had controversially been signed ahead of star names because of the Moneyball strategy, who hit a home run to secure the record-breaking victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In the movie, the final credits roll as the A\u2019s clinch the championship against all odds and run to embrace each other. This was achieved in suspenseful fashion, as they came from 4-3 down to shock the world and complete the biggest underdog story in baseball history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In real life, the Oakland A\u2019s had a fairly average season despite their incredible unbeaten run. This was because they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Twins. The 2002 World Series was instead won by the Anaheim Angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In the 2011 film, Beane is shown to care only about a player\u2019s stats, with batters who frequently hit first base prioritised over talents who can hit the ball over the park. This is shown through Beane\u2019s willingness to trade for players regardless of their age or personality, with the best example being signing Scott Hatteberg despite his strange throwing technique, which had previously prevented other teams from considering him for their roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is an accurate representation of Billy Beane, who refused to back down or lighten his stats-based approach due to fan criticism or what owners thought of it, as he was certain that it would bring success to the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In the movie, coach Art Howe strongly pushes back against Beane\u2019s new approach. He seems to want Moneyball to fail, even though it would mean that his own team loses. There are many unprofessional and angry rants directed at Beane from Howe in the film, with friction between the two characters seen throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In reality, Art Howe supported Beane, and together they took a team on a tight budget on an unprecedented 20-match win streak. Although Howe had his reservations on the new philosophy, the two\u2019s debates were always civil. This has since caused frustration from Howe, who was not happy about how he came across in the film and spoke out about it being inaccurate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the 2002 baseball season the Oakland A\u2019s pulled off an underdog story for the ages \u2013 in fact, it was such an achievement that it was only a matter of time before a director took the not-so-huge gamble of making it into a movie. Here are the similarities and differences between Bennett Miller\u2019s \u201cMoneyball\u201d and the Oakland A\u2019s 2002 unbeaten run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,124],"tags":[120,63,71,70,134,68,69,67,29,123],"class_list":["post-585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","category-home-carosel","tag-baseball","tag-brad-pitt","tag-comparison","tag-film","tag-jonah-hill","tag-moneyball","tag-movie","tag-oakland-as","tag-underdog","tag-world-series"],"yoast_head":"\n