The Athletics don’t have much margin for error in Game 2, and that starts with Brady Basso. After dropping Wednesday’s opener on Junior Caminero’s walk-off home run, Oakland has to answer with a cleaner, sharper effort if it wants to avoid putting itself in an even deeper hole.
The biggest problem in the first game wasn’t just the ending. It was the offense, or more specifically, the lack of it.
That has to change quickly against a Rays game built around a bullpen plan. If the Athletics are going to even things up, they’ll need to score enough early to make that setup work against Tampa Bay.
There is at least some hope on that side of the ball. Shea Langeliers is back to finish the season, and while his return hasn’t turned into anything dramatic yet, it does give the Athletics another bat that can matter. He’s been decent since coming back, but Game 2 is the kind of spot where Oakland could use a real jump from him.
Beyond Langeliers, the lineup isn’t exactly empty. Lawrence Butler has looked like the club’s obvious second-half MVP choice, and Zack Gelof, Henry Bolte, and Jeff McNeil give the Athletics enough pieces to threaten if they can get rolling early. The catch, as the opener showed, is that getting there is much easier to say than to do.
That’s why Basso’s outing matters so much. If he struggles early, the Athletics may never really get the chance to settle in. This is the kind of game where a bad start can snowball fast, and Oakland needs Basso to keep things in reach from the beginning.
The target is simple: at least five innings. If Basso can get there, the Athletics can protect their bullpen a little better and follow a clearer path the rest of the way. Geoff Hartlieb is expected to cover 2.0 innings, which would set up Luis Medina for the eighth and then either Elvis Alvarado or Hogan Harris to close it out.
Of course, none of that matters if Basso can’t hold up his end. He looks like a true boom-or-bust arm in this spot, the type who could be out there for the fifth inning or gone by the second. Either way, the bullpen has to be ready to carry weight.
There is some confidence in that group if Basso can at least give the Athletics a real chance. But if he falls short, Oakland may have to lean on pitchers it would rather avoid in a tight game, including Joey Estes, Seth Johnson, and Yunior Tur. If that happens, those arms can’t afford to give the Rays anything.
In Other News...
A's Offseason Plan Hinges On One Problem They Still Haven't Solved
The Athletics are deep into evaluation mode with 11 games left, and even in a loss to the Rays there was at least one encouraging sign in Jack Perkins turning in a quality start. Beyond that, the stretch run is less about the standings than about sorting through what the club actually has, especially in spots like center field and the corners, where Denzel Clarke and Carlos Cortes have been part of the conversation as the front office and Mark Kotsay try to map out a better version of this roster.
What makes the offseason feel especially important is that the A's still need a clearer sense of how their new baseball decision-makers and Kotsay will line up on the kinds of players they want to build around. Small-market clubs like Tampa Bay and Milwaukee have shown how much defense and pitching can matter when payrolls are tight, and Oakland knows it has to get sharper in those areas. The problem is that the club is still sorting out whether the current mix can provide enough offensive support to make those defensive tradeoffs worthwhile. [Read more 🡒]
As Young Core Showed Real Fight In Another Tight Loss
A young A's lineup kept pushing again, even after the Rays jumped out early with a pair of doubles and carried a slim lead into the later innings. Oakland never did fold, and the response came from the middle of the order, where Tommy White and Henry Bolte both went deep to turn a lopsided-looking game into something tense and watchable down the stretch.
The Rays still escaped with a 4-3 win, but the final innings had the kind of edge Oakland has been searching for as its younger pieces keep learning on the job. Tampa Bay's bullpen finished the job, and the A's had one last chance to flip the result before the night ended. [Read more 🡒]
A's Bullpen Suddenly Gives The Front Office A Real Foundation
The bullpen has become one of the more encouraging parts of the Athletics season, which is not where this conversation seemed headed after Mason Miller was shipped out last summer. Instead of a late-inning group that fell apart without its closer, Oakland has gotten useful innings from Elvis Alvarado, Hogan Harris, Brady Basso and Scott Blewett, giving the front office something tangible to point to as it weighs the next round of pitching decisions.
There is still plenty of work ahead, especially with a new general manager expected to hunt for pitching help before the season ends. But a relief corps that can hold its own changes the calculus for a club in transition, and it gives Oakland at least one area where the talent base looks sturdier than it did a few months ago. [Read more 🡒]