With 2026 season starting to spiral, GM says A’s must play better ‘in a hurry’
The Athletics’ second season based in West Sacramento, unfortunately for them, hasn’t strayed too far from the first.
The A’s will begin the post-All-Star break portion of their schedule Friday, when they host the Washington Nationals, sitting at 41-55. And like 2025, the A’s find themselves well outside the playoff picture despite entering the season with the expectations to contend for the postseason with their talented roster littered with blossoming and accomplished sluggers.
Yet the A’s are riding a nine-game losing streak and have lost 17 of their last 20 games after spending 44 days alone or tied for first place in the American League West earlier in the season. It’s not quite as bad as their stretch in May and June 2025 when they dropped 20 of 21, but they find themselves in a similar position coming out of the All-Star Game.
The A’s are just 6 1/2 games out of the final Wildcard spot while they 11 games out this time last year. But they have a 0.5% probability of earning a postseason spot, according to Baseball Reference, having nosedived from about 30% in the last 30 days.
“I thought we had better baseball ahead of us,” A’s general manager David Forst said Thursday in a virtual press conference. “Unfortunately, similar to 2025, we hit a rut the last two weeks that we haven’t quite been able to get out of. And everyone has injuries, everyone has underperformance. Those aren’t excuses, but certainly that’s part of our story right now.”
A’s remain rocked by injuries
The causes of the A’s frustrating season have come in multitudes.
A number of key players have performed well below expectations while dealing with injuries or otherwise. The pitching staff has struggled throughout the year, particularly at hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park, leading to the dismissal of longtime pitching coach Scott Emerson on Monday.
Two of their most important players — projected ace starting pitcher Luis Severino and former Silver Slugger-winning designated hitter Brent Rooker — have been dealing with long-term injuries. Rooker is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury that factored into hitting .200 with just 14 extra-base hits in 48 games. Severino has been on the 60-day injured list since June 21 with a strain to his throwing shoulder.
But there are silver linings, however challenging they are to find.
First baseman Nick Kurtz isn’t far from returning from a right thumb capsule strain, which made him miss his start for the American League in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Zack Gelof, who became one of the team’s best hitter thanks to a 24-game hitting streak, is also expected to return in the near future after having two freak injuries when his hand was stepped on, and another laceration to his knee while sliding into a fence down the left field line in Detroit on July 9.
Shortstop Jacob Wilson has also returned after missing 40 games with left shoulder and thumb injuries.
“So hopefully those injuries won’t continue to linger, but we obviously need to start playing better baseball in a hurry,” Forst said.
Can A’s still end postseason drought?
Another bright spot is weaker competition in the league. Only five of the American League’s 15 teams are coming out of the All-Star break with winning records, including the AL West-leading Texas Rangers who are barely above that mark at 49-47.
The A’s are looking to snap their five-year postseason drought spanning back to the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season in 2020 under former manager Bob Melvin, who has assumed a front office role with the A’s following his departure as manager of the San Francisco Giants in September 2025.
Current manager Mark Kotsay is in his fifth season and is looking to lead the team to the playoffs for the first time. He’s been dealt the difficult hand of overseeing a roster overhaul and the team’s temporary relocation to West Sacramento expected to run through next season, with his pitching staff struggling to be effective in the band-box of Sutter Health Park.
Despite his team’s struggles, the A’s still view Kotsay highly after giving him a contract extension in February through 2028.
“I continue to think Mark has done an outstanding job,” Forst said. “I mentioned earlier that he’s the one who creates the culture in the clubhouse, sets the tone, and I think he’s as good at that as anyone that I’ve ever been around.
“I’ve had a couple conversations with players over this break about the way we’ve played and about where we’re heading. And the fact that the guys I’ve talked to are fully confident in their ability to turn things around, and feel like if we can just get a little healthier and a little better performance, we’re right back in this."
