As the postseason rolls on, the contrast is impossible to miss. The teams still standing are doing a lot of little things right, and those little things add up fast. For the Athletics, that gap is the whole point.
The next A’s GM and president of baseball operations should be paying close attention to how the best clubs are going about their business, because there’s a clear blueprint sitting in front of them. It starts at the plate.
The postseason teams are not living in the wrong extremes. They are not taking every first pitch just to hunt walks, and they are not flailing at every pitch in sight.
There’s a feel for the moment - enough aggression to attack strikes, enough patience to wait for a better one, and enough discipline to earn walks when pitchers give them room. The A’s showed flashes of that in 2026, but only flashes.
Too often, the approach was chasing, hacking, and leaving plate discipline behind. If the next regime wants better offense, it has to bring in hitters and hitting coaches who value discernment and consistency.
There’s also the matter of basics. Postseason baseball has a way of exposing who respects the details and who doesn’t.
One moment that has stuck around this October was the benching of Cooper Pratt on August 25th, 2026, tied in part to not running hard on a fly ball that ended up as only a single, in part to not getting a bunt down, and in part - according to teammates - to a buildup of issues over time. The larger message was about culture.
Players backing their manager pointed to a “winning culture” and to his intolerance for a lack of hustle or commitment to the fundamentals. That kind of “tough love” is exactly the sort of tone the A’s need from a manager, especially when talent and payroll limitations are part of the landscape.
Then there’s the off-field side of the equation, where some of the postseason clubs have simply left the Athletics behind. The Brewers and Rays are the obvious examples: they spend heavily on development and analytics, not payroll, and the results are right there on the field.
Jacob Misiorowski, Drew Rasmussen, and Gavin Williams may be “true aces,” but the point is that the A’s own arms - Luis Morales, Jack Perkins, and Gage Jump - could stand with anybody if stuff were the only factor. The difference is how those pitchers are developed, guided, and maximized.
That’s the real lesson for the next front office. It’s not just about collecting talent.
It’s about building the kind of organization that sharpens it, disciplines it, and gets more out of it. The teams still playing are showing what that looks like, and their payroll rankings make the point even harder to ignore: 20th for Milwaukee, 28th for Tampa Bay, and 29th for Cleveland on Opening Day.
The A’s will soon hire a new front office, and that group will get the chance to reshape how the club operates from top to bottom. If the goal is to become one of the teams still playing when 27 clubs are already at home, the examples are right there in front of them.
In Other News...
As Front Office Search Just Became More Important Than Ever
The Athletics front office search has taken on a sharper edge as the postseason picture elsewhere keeps moving. With the Rays one win away from the World Series after their latest victory over Cleveland, Oakland is still sorting through one of the most important decisions in the organization, looking for a new leader to guide a team that needs clarity as much as anything.
Several names have surfaced in the process, including Red Sox assistant GM Taylor Smith, who is being mentioned as a favorite for the opening. The As have also reportedly offered the title of president to Phillies executive Sam Fuld, but no official announcement has been made on a new general manager, leaving the clubs next step very much unresolved. [Read more 🡒]
A's Bullpen Battle Could Come Down To Two Unexpected Arms
The Athletics are already looking ahead to 2027, and the bullpen figures to be one of the more interesting areas of the roster to watch after injuries thinned out key arms in 2026. Two pitchers who were not necessarily part of the original plan, Scott Blewett and Brady Basso, are suddenly in the mix for meaningful roles if the club chooses to let competition sort out the relief picture.
Blewett arrived by trade after being designated for assignment and turned in a strong minor league showing that put him back on the radar. Basso had a tougher season overall, but he did show better stretches at times and could still push for a spot depending on what the As do in the offseason, making this one of those spring battles that could hinge on how much help is added before camp opens. [Read more 🡒]