The A's Finished 64 and 98, the Kids Are Hurt, and I'm Still Checking the Box Score

There's a real young team in there for 2027 if everybody gets healthy. It just won't be ours much longer.

I still check the A's score every night. I'm not proud of it. They play in West Sacramento now, they'll be in Las Vegas soon enough, and the guy who moved them there is never getting a dime from me. But the green and gold is in my blood, and some part of me still flips to the box score before bed like it's 2012 and the Coliseum is shaking.

So, the damage. 64 and 98. Fourth in the AL West. And the kids, the whole reason anybody should care about this team, are hurt.

The core ended the year in the trainer's room

This is the part that makes me want to scream into a pillow.

Nick Kurtz, the best young hitter this organization has had in years, finished on the 60 day injured list with a thumb. Before that he was doing exactly what he does: .396 on base, 21 homers in 99 games, 79 walks. Jacob Wilson is on the 60 day with a shoulder. Brent Rooker is on the 60 day with a knee after only 48 games and a .200 average. Tyler Soderstrom's out with a hip after hitting 19 homers.

All four.

The guys you'd build around, all done before the season was. I don't care whose team it is, that's a gut punch.

Shea Langeliers is the one who made it through. 23 homers, an .807 OPS, and an All Star trip. Lawrence Butler hit 17 homers but never really found it at the plate. And the rotation? Jacob Lopez has thrown 123 innings with a 5.47 ERA. I'm going to stop there for my own health.

The farm got hit too

You'd think the minor leagues would be the good news. They were, right up until this month.

Leo De Vries is the second best prospect in all of baseball on one of the big lists. He's 19, he hit .290 with 13 homers, 55 RBIs and 34 steals at Double A Midland, and he had shoulder surgery on September 14. Full recovery could take up to eight months. Jamie Arnold, the lefty they took 11th overall last year, took a line drive off his face pitching for Triple A Las Vegas and has fractures around his eye and sinus. Thank God he's doing okay. That's the first thing. But it's another name on the list.

There's Gage Jump, a lefty who's been on the top 100 lists, and this summer they drafted Drew Burress out of Georgia Tech with the eighth pick, an outfielder who can really hit. So the pipeline isn't empty. It's just bruised.

So what does 2027 look like?

Honestly? It could be fun, if bodies cooperate. A healthy Kurtz, Wilson, Soderstrom and Langeliers is a real lineup. Add De Vries at some point once the shoulder's right and that's an infield people outside of Sacramento would actually pay to watch. On paper, this is a young team that could surprise some folks.

And they'll play it in West Sacramento again, mostly at Sutter Health Park, with six "home" games in Las Vegas thrown in so the new neighbors can get a preview. Then 2028 is the Strip, the domed stadium, and the end of any pretending that this team belongs to us.

That's what gets me. The best young A's core in a decade is going to peak in Las Vegas. Kurtz is going to hit his prime in a casino town. Those should've been Oakland kids, playing in front of the people who stuck around through every fire sale and every lie about a stadium. The Oakland A's legacy deserved that. We deserved that.

I'm still rooting for the players

I can hate the move and root for the kids at the same time. That's the deal I've made with myself. Every one of those guys was drafted or traded into a mess they didn't create, and none of them asked for any of this.

So get healthy, Nick. Get that shoulder right, Leo. Jamie, take all the time you need.

I'll be checking the box score next April. Same as always. I just won't be buying the hat.

Correction, October 1, 2026: an earlier version of this column gave the final record as 64 and 96. It was written with two games left, and the A's lost both. They finished 64 and 98.

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