The Athletics 2026 Season Review: There’s Always Next Season -

The 2026 MLB regular season came to a close last night, and so, it’s time for my end of season review of The Athletics.

In 2026, the A’s had a 64-98 record, once again placing them fourth in an American League West division where the division winner – the Houston Astros – only posted an 81-81 record.

In my 2026 season preview article, I talked about hope. There was a lot of hope for the A’s this season, particularly given that MLB.com rated them as having the fifth-best lineup in the entire league. And things did start reasonably well, with the team hanging around the .500 win-loss record with periods of topping the AL West division until the middle of June.

However, there was then a 50-game stretch between mid-June and mid-August where the team went 11-39, with the team recording their worst July record since 1938 during that stretch.

One of the big reasons why the A’s have performed so badly in 2026 is because the pitching continues to be terrible; the team allowed the most home runs (247), as well as the second-most hits (1523) and the second-most runs (937) with only the Colorado Rockies being worst in both those categories. Furthermore, the A’s pitchers finished the season with the second-worst ERA (5.51) and the second-most WHIP (1.51), again with only the Colorado Rockies worst in those categories, and they also walked the fourth-most batters this season (637). As part of this, there have been some bad individual pitchers for the A’s this season. For example, in my season preview article, I talked about the need for Jacob Lopez to be more consistent if he’s to be in the starting pitcher rotation. While he was in the rotation, he certainly hasn’t been consistent; while there were some good outings, too often he allowed games to get away from him, and ended the season with a 5.47 ERA having allowed 126 hits, 78 runs and 23 home runs, with 58 walks issued (highest on the team), in 123.1 IP. On this point, Jeffrey Springs will become a free agent once the 2026 season officially ends unless the A’s pick exercise his club option. I really hope that they don’t, as his record with the A’s has frankly been abysmal – in 2026 alone, he posted a 4-14 record and had an ERA of 6.18 in 142.2 IP having pitched in and started 29 games. For someone who was one of the A’s headline signings prior to the 2025 season, it hasn’t been good enough. For context, prior to his season being ended by injury, J.T. Ginn pitched in 138.1 innings in 27 games (24 starts), had a 9-8 record, a complete game and posted a 3.71 ERA with more strikeouts than Springs, less than half the amount of home runs allowed and significantly less hits and runs allowed.

Injuries galore

Injuries have clearly had their effect this season as well though, with multiple players missing significant chucks of time or being ruled out for the season altogether. For example, after an uneven 2025 campaign where his ERA at Sutter Health Park was notably higher than it was when he was pitching on the road, Luis Severino was starting to put it all together for the A’s and was pitching consistently well before his 2026 season was ended by injury in May. Severino can choose to become a free agent now having signed the richest contract in A’s history prior to the 2025 season, which I expect will happen. It would be fair to say that we never saw the best of him in an A’s uniform, certainly not consistently.

The same is also true of Brent Rooker. The A’s have him under contract until at least the end of the 2029 season, but the A’s didn’t see the best of him this season – having missed 15 games early in the season with an oblique strain, Rooker posted a .200 batting average, ten home runs and 29 RBIs in 48 games and 180 at-bats before being ruled out for the season at the start of July after needing knee surgery.

Similarly, Denzel Clarke also missed a significant chuck of the season between April and the start of September with a hamstring strain. Clarke is a fantastic defensive player who started to contribute positively with his at-bats this season too, and the A’s certainly missed his defensive prowess this season.

Three of the people in this photo had their 2026 season ended early through injury (Bryan Kennedy/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

And any team would miss the power at-bats of Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz. Both players were named All-Stars this season, but both also missed large chucks of the season, with Langeliers suffering a meniscus tear that put him on the sidelines from mid-July to mid-September, while Kurtz was initially sidelined in July with a right thumb strain that caused him to miss the All-Star Game because re-aggravating the injury upon his return in late July, leading to a new tear in the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint that put him out for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, the same has also been true for Jacob Wilson, who had been dealing with a shoulder issue since May before being ruled out for the season in August, and Tyler Soderstrom, who needed season-ending surgery on his hip. And, after a promising start to his rookie campaign, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer also missed a large chuck of the season with a frankly unspeakable injury before returning for the final week of games.

However…

Reasons for optimism

There were some bright spots – Zack Gelof played well this season, and managed to hit 22 HRs with 55 RBIs in 111 games and 394 at-bats. He also was hit by the injury bug though, and so, hopefully, for both him and the A’s next season, he can stay healthy and not have such a disjointed campaign where he was out of the side with different injuries on multiple occasions.

Henry Bolte also got better as his rookie campaign progressed to the point that he started to make an argument to at least be included in the AL Rookie of the Year conversation towards the end of the season. For his rookie campaign, Bolte posted a .277 batting average and an OBP of .359 to go along with 11 HRs and 38 RBIs in 119 games and 415 at-bats. Not sensational numbers in totality, yes, but, for the month of August, his batting average was .310 and he had 35 hits in 28 games. Such performances made a strong case for Bolte being named AL Rookie of the Month and, I may be biased, but I would say he was unlucky not to be. Given Bolte’s foot speed, ability to get on-base and then steal more bases, Bolte promises to be a potent threat for the A’s in 2027 and beyond.

In terms of other rookies, Gage Jump was generally pretty good on the mound for the A’s in his rookie campaign. His ERA did creep up to 5.47 to end the season though, but if he keeps working in the off-season and developing his pitching arsenal, there’s no reason why he couldn’t continue to be a quality starting pitcher in the A’s line-up going forward.

I also have to acknowledge that Jeff McNeill has been a solid addition to the A’s lineup this season, ending 2026 with a .264 batting average, .313 OBP, nine home runs and 59 RBIs. I was critical of McNeill in my mid-season report on the A’s, and I stand by my point that some of his defensive errors were bafflingly basic for someone who has been in the major leagues for nearly a decade now, but McNeill time and again produced quality at-bats that helped the A’s to stay in the game and get some wins while setting the standard for the amount of hustle fans should expect from the players. Long may that continue as part of what is still generally a young A’s line-up.

Final Thoughts

2026 was a bad season for The Athletics, with the team posting a worse win-loss record than they did in the previous two seasons.

The teams was badly affected by injuries though, particularly in the second half of the season. Hopefully, they can have better luck in that regard next season then.

For 2027 to be a better season for the A’s, they need to address their pitching – a concerted effort was made prior to the 2025 season, with Severino, Springs and Jose LeClerc being brought in. However, for different reasons, all three of them didn’t work out for the A’s. While there is a chance Severino may still be in the A’s green and gold next season, it is very unlikely given that decision is in his hands rather than the club’s, and so, the A’s front office needs to be making great efforts to improve both the starting rotation and the bullpen in order to complement what should be one of the best batting line-ups in all of MLB next season.

Brett Walker is The Athletics contributor for Bat Flips & Nerds, and can be found on Twitter @BrettChatsSport. He can now also be found on Bluesky too.