“Where We Are”: An Honest Look At The A’s After 43 Games
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - MAY 9: Zack Gelof #20 of the Athletics bats against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 9, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Bill Streicher/Getty Images) | Getty Images After an especially tough loss — such as when you are quite literally a strike away from winning and lose — everything feels more bleak. Just as after an exhilarating win the team might feel invincible.
As always the truth is somewhere in between. As I write following a disappointing loss, I see more positives than negatives but that optimism is also measured. This A’s team, as currently constituted, is very talented and very flawed, so it feels about right that the team sits around the .
500 mark, now 1 game over at 22-21. The A’s have come by their record losing some games they should have won and winning some games should have lost. But they have ultimately achieved what had to be the overarching goal for April-May: stay with the Mariners, stay in contact with the .
500 mark, hang in there while hopefully the roster gets some key fortification, e. g. , perhaps Gage Jump sooner and even Leo De Vries later.
Now the way the A’s have kept pace with and even stayed ahead of, the Mariners has to do largely with Seattle playing surprisingly poorly the first 7 weeks. Projected by analysts to win more like 96 games than 80, nonetheless the Mariners have sputtered out of the gate and that has kept the A’s in good stead. But here’s the reason for my “leaning towards optimism”.
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