WEST SACRAMENTO -- The Athletics will not reach the postseason in 2025, but their continued strong play over the second half has developed into a major contribution in crushing the dwindling playoff dreams of the division-rival Astros.
Opening up a three-game series on Tuesday night at Sutter Health Park against an Astros club in full-on desperation mode, the A’s played the spoiler role to a T with a 5-1 win. The victory sank Houston to a full game behind Detroit for the third Wild Card in the American League, with only five games left in the regular season.
Should the Astros miss out on the playoffs for the first time since 2016, the A’s will have played a vital role in snapping that eight-year streak. Following Tuesday’s win, the A’s are now 7-4 against Houston, having won the last six meetings between the two clubs.
"We want to go out there and ruin a team’s chance at going to the playoffs,” A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson said. “With us being eliminated already, that’s kind of our only goal. Make it so that we can play good baseball and get some other teams out of it. That’s the mentality we have.”
Playing good baseball has been first and foremost for the A’s, and that has been the case over the past two months. They have performed as one of the better clubs in the league with a record of 32-21 since July 24, a stretch that began with a four-game sweep of these Astros from July 24-27 at Daikin Park in a series highlighted by AL Rookie of the Year favorite Nick Kurtz’s historic four-homer game.
On Tuesday, it was the other standout rookie in Wilson who shined at the plate. Leading an offense that saw each player in the A’s lineup reach base at least once, Wilson reached base in all four plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI single while also drawing a pair of walks.
Wilson’s season-long battle with Aaron Judge for the batting title appears destined to come down to the wire. The 23-year-old All-Star upped his average to .318, while the Yankees superstar sits at .325.
"I’ve been trailing that guy all year,” Wilson said. “It’s definitely an honor to be in the same category as him with the year he’s had. It’s awesome just to be able to compete with him. I’m still a couple of points behind him, but I’m just going out there every day having fun playing baseball with these guys for the last time this season.”
The A’s never doubted that Wilson, the sixth overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, would hit at the highest level. What has impressed manager Mark Kotsay is the plate discipline he’s developed over the course of his first full season. In fact, Tuesday marked the first time Wilson has drawn more than one walk in a game over his Major League career.
“That is the biggest thing that stands out right now,” Kotsay said. “He’s not chasing pitches. He’s not swinging out of the zone as much as he did in the beginning of the year. He’s really learning the strike zone. … He takes the scouting report, studies and has game plans. His last at-bat, he got beat with an 0-1 [fastball] and, in his mind, wasn’t going to get beat again, and then he hits a ball right inside the first-base bag.”
Jeffrey Springs paced the A’s on the mound with a solid outing in his final start of the season, limiting Houston to one run on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts across five innings.
Springs, acquired by the A’s in a trade with the Rays this past offseason, entered Spring Training excited to be free of restrictions and feeling like himself again after a limited workload the previous two years due to Tommy John surgery. For the season, the 33-year-old left-hander proved to be a workhorse, finishing 11-11 with a 4.11 ERA in 32 games (30 starts) and setting career highs in wins and innings pitched (171).
"Great outing to end the year on,” Kotsay said. “Jeffrey and I met three starts ago. We talked about the innings, the workload, where he was at and how I wanted him to finish. We couldn’t have scripted it any better to go out tonight against a playoff-contending team in our division.”