A rough 2026 left the Athletics with 98 losses, but there’s still a path for this group to make a real jump in 2027 if the pieces come together. The biggest question isn’t whether the roster has talent. It’s whether the holes are small enough to patch before they drag the whole season down again.
That’s what makes the Athletics such a tricky team to project. On paper, they still have plenty that can go sideways, especially on the pitching side. But if they clean that up, this is a club with enough upside to look a lot different by next fall.
The talent base is real. Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Lawrence Butler, Jacob Wilson, Henry Bolte, Zack Gelof, Tyler Soderstrom, Luis Medina, Gage Jump, JT Ginn, Hogan Harris and Elvis Alvarado are all part of the group with the best chance to push this thing forward. Some names might sound ambitious in this kind of conversation, but the source material points to each of them having shown enough at their best to make the idea more than just wishful thinking.
That’s why the Athletics’ ceiling is higher than people might expect. If the lineup core holds and the pitching gets addressed, they could be good enough to force their way into the ALDS. In a season where the AL West doesn’t change dramatically, a division title could even be the route there.
The clearest obstacle is still the pitching staff, and that’s the area that could define everything. The rest of the roster, at least as described here, gives them a chance to be dangerous if the mound work improves. And if the issues are obvious enough, the thinking is that solutions should be obvious too.
There’s also a realistic path for individual recognition. In the AL, the Athletics’ core could stand out in a way that would be tougher in the NL, where players like Shohei Ohtani and Pete Crow-Armstrong would likely have those awards locked up. That doesn’t take anything away from stars such as Yordan Alvarez or Junior Caminero, but it does open the door for an A’s player to get into the conversation.
Nick Kurtz would be in that mix almost by default, with Langeliers right there as well and even Henry Bolte potentially joining if his progress goes further than expected. If the Athletics hit the kind of stride their talent suggests, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see their names showing up on award trackers late in the 2027 season.
In Other News...
A's Offseason Just Started Getting Uncomfortable
With the Wild Card round now in the books and the playoff field narrowed to the Yankees, White Sox, Padres and Braves, the Athletics have officially shifted into offseason mode, and it is already looking like a consequential one in Oakland. The club has moved quickly to shake up the coaching staff, parting ways with pitching coach Scott Emerson, assistant hitting coach Chris Cron and quality control coach Marcus Jensen, while keeping manager Mark Kotsay in place as the face of the dugout.
That leaves the A's with a clearer sense of who is steering the ship, but not much clarity beyond that. The bigger questions are financial and personnel-driven, with upcoming decisions looming on contract options for Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs and Jeff McNeil as the front office starts sorting through what this roster should look like next season. [Read more 🡒]
As Opening Day Battle Just Got Real For Several Familiar Names
Jeffrey Springs, Max Muncy and Denzel Clarke all spent enough time in the conversation this season to still matter when the Athletics start mapping out 2027, but the picture around each of them has changed fast. Springs never found his footing on the mound, Muncys hold on third base remains uncertain, and Clarke has had more than just performance questions hanging over him as the organization keeps sorting through its next wave of talent.
The most immediate pressure point is on the pitching side, where Springs now looks like the likeliest of the three to be squeezed out when Opening Day decisions come around. Clarkes path has also gotten tougher after the hamstring strain and bone bruise, and with younger outfielders crowding the depth chart, the Athletics suddenly have less reason to wait for roles to sort themselves out. [Read more 🡒]
Athletics Enter An Offseason That Could Shape Their Vegas Timeline
The Athletics are heading into an offseason that already carries unusual weight, because so many of the franchises next steps tie directly into the larger question of how and when the move to Las Vegas keeps advancing. Before the club gets too far down that road, it still has a lot of standard baseball business to sort through, starting with a new general manager and then working through the usual calendar of contract decisions, winter meetings and the Rule 5 Draft.
There is also a sense that the schedule itself could become part of the story if a lockout changes how the winter unfolds. For a team trying to manage both baseball decisions and a bigger organizational transition, every date matters, from personnel choices to league gatherings, and the way the front office handles this stretch may say plenty about how prepared the As are for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]