WEST SACRAMENTO – The Athletics likely will not reach the postseason in 2026, but there is still plenty of value in this final quarter of the regular season.
Nearly half of the A’s remaining schedule is against contending American League West opponents, presenting an opportunity to play spoiler.
“When you can cause some chaos in the division, that’s a priority for us,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “That would be the fun part. … In a season that has been really challenging, there are games left here to at least have some impact in a divisional race.”
Friday night’s series opener against the Rangers marked the first of 20 games the A’s will play against either Texas, the Astros or the Mariners – all three still very much in both the AL West and AL Wild Card race – over the final six weeks of the 2026 campaign.
The A’s made life a bit more difficult for the division-rival Rangers on Friday, pulling away late for an 8-3 win at Sutter Health Park that sunk Texas to three games back of Houston in the AL West and a half-game back of the third Wild Card spot.
Jeff McNeil led the way on offense for the A’s with a season-high four hits, and nearly hit for the cycle.
After a double in the second, a single in the fourth and a solo homer in the sixth, McNeil came up in the ninth a triple shy of making history – and nearly did it. The 34-year-old veteran lined a ball down the right-field line that bounced off the side wall and ricocheted in front of right fielder Brandon Nimmo.
For a split second, it appeared as if McNeil might try for third. Instead, he stayed put at second for a two-run double, shooting a large smile in the direction of his teammates inside the A’s dugout as he settled for a 4-for-5 night with three RBIs.
There has been plenty for McNeil to smile about as of late. After heading into the All-Star break batting just .226, he is now hitting .409 (27-for-66) since the break, the highest batting average among all players (min. 70 plate appearances) during that span.
“He’s having fun playing baseball right now,” Kotsay said. “That’s the Jeff that we saw early [in the season]. Hopefully, that’s the Jeff we’ll see until the end of the season. He’s taking some great at-bats. We moved him up to the top of the order and he’s responded.”
It may not be as exciting as competing for a playoff spot themselves, which the A’s had their sights set on coming out of Spring Training before several injuries to key players derailed their season, but crushing the dreams of others might be the next best thing.
It certainly is for Lawrence Butler, who on Friday homered for a third consecutive game by launching a Statcast-projected 411-foot solo shot to center in the seventh.
“When you’re not in it, it’s kind of fun to ruin other [teams’] seasons,” Butler said. “That’s pretty much where we’re at at this point in the season. Just try to ruin every team’s season that we play. Knock some teams out of the playoffs or put some teams back some games, that’s pretty much our goal.”
Performing well against other teams in a playoff race is also important from a development standpoint for the several rookies and young players now getting a chance down the stretch.
On Friday, rookie left-hander Gage Jump gave the Rangers fits through five scoreless innings. His outing did end on a bit of a sour note, surrendering a game-tying three-run homer to Jake Burger with one out in the sixth on his 101st and final pitch of the night. But it was still a solid follow-up for the 23-year-old to his outing at Fenway Park last week, which saw him earn a win over a playoff-contending Red Sox club with six innings of two-run ball and a career-high 11 strikeouts.
“That’s exactly what I want to do,” Jump said of playing spoiler. “I don’t want to ever feel like someone can step on me or the team. My job is to kind of make it hell for them. I’m excited about that.”