“There are market advantages that we have here that give us the opportunity to change direction very quickly, and we try to take advantage of that,” Beane said. “There’s things we can’t do. There are a lot of baseball decisions that cost a lot of money that we cannot make. But we’re also in a position because of the finances that we can’t make really bad financial decisions. If something is not working, we can try again. The cost of replacing an A’s player is much cheaper than, say, a Yankees player. And our market is a little more forgiving in terms of being experimental.”

Beane acknowledged that the constant overhauling could be exhausting — different from most places, where a nucleus of players might provide a window of championship opportunity lasting several years. But it does keep the A’s from being dull. In the hypercorporate, highly sterile world of professional sports, few teams have as much youthful exuberance.

Last September, the former A’s third baseman Eric Chavez, then playing for the Yankees, derided the enthusiasm emanating from the Oakland dugout during an extra-inning game. He called the cheers and clapping “high schoolish” — which, from a 34-year-old member of the Yankees, is akin to an old man shouting at children to stay off the lawn.

In late June, catcher Stephen Vogt got his first major league hit, a home run. He returned to the Oakland dugout and, as part of baseball tradition, was ignored. Finally, as Vogt sipped a cup of water, the A’s exploded in excitement.

“This environment is very conducive to being yourself and being original,” said reliever Jerry Blevins, who began his career with the A’s in 2007, which makes him a team historian. “And you’ve got so many young personalities that, on other teams where the identities are more established, wouldn’t be able to blossom.”

These are descendants of the big-personality A’s of Reggie Jackson and Rickey Henderson, of Jose Canseco and Nick Swisher, with some of interesting hair and little of the name recognition.