The Oakland Athletics were one of baseball's best stories in 2018. The won 97 games en route to their first playoff berth since 2014. Though the A's lost in the American League Wild Card Game against the New York Yankees, it seems likely they'll remain competitive entering next year, thanks in part to a well-rounded lineup led by third baseman Matt Chapman.

The A's ascent couldn't have come at a better time for the club's braintrust. The contracts of executive VP of baseball operations Billy Beane, manager Bob Melvin and general manager David Forst were all set to expire after the 2019 season. Ownership, then, was nearing a decision point: Extend the trio, fire them, or let them head into next season as lame ducks.

Predictably, given the season the A's just had, ownership decided to give the trio shiny new long-term extensions, as announced by the team on Monday:

Beane has been making important calls for the A's since October 1997, when he was promoted to the GM role. He's been in his current position since 2015, when the A's promoted Forst from assistant GM -- a title he had held for more than a decade. Each has declined to take jobs elsewhere, though other teams have tried time and again to pluck them from Oakland.

Melvin is the relative newcomer of the bunch. He took over as skipper in June 2011 and has since managed the third-most games in franchise history. He's 238 games behind Tony La Russa and ... well, more than 6,000 behind Connie Mack (whose record will never be broken unless owner-managers come back in style). Melvin has a career .514 winning percentage in Oakland and has guided the A's to four postseason appearances.