The 2011 film Moneyball follows Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. Brad Pitt portrays Beane in the film, which dramatizes the team's attempt to compete in Major League Baseball with a much smaller payroll than wealthy rivals.
The story is based on Michael Lewis's 2003 book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. It focuses on how Beane and assistant general manager Paul DePodesta used sabermetrics—statistical analysis of player performance—to identify undervalued players. In the film, DePodesta is represented by the fictional character Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill.
The movie centers largely on the Athletics' 2002 season, when Oakland won 20 consecutive games, an American League record at the time. That achievement helped make the team's analytical approach famous beyond baseball, although the film compresses events and changes some real-life relationships for dramatic effect.
The franchise is often called the Oakland A's. “Oakland Athletics” is the formal team name and is the canonical answer; the team later announced plans to relocate and ultimately use the name Athletics.