The A's offense was supposed to be the calling card of this club. Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento is supposed to be a hitter's dream. The beginning of this week against the Seattle Mariners, neither of those held true.

The A's (27-29) were outscored 22-4 in a series at home against a team looking to take over the AL West from them, and Seattle (28-29) succeeded in their mission. While the standings don't necessarily mean a ton just yet, these head-to-head matchups can prove crucial with tiebreakers determining postseason berths in the event of a tie. 

The offense this season ranks well in a number of categories, including batting average (.246, 8th), OBP (.327, 7th) and OPS (.716, 10th). They even came into Wednesday's finale ranked sixth in wRC+ with a 120 (100 is league average) with runners in scoring position. They also rank 18th in runs scored.

So where's the hangup?

"Our offense, as we've talked about a lot, the slug and the home runs created over 50% of our runs last year," Mark Kotsay said after Wednesday's game. "That production is down right now. We're getting hits, we're not getting big hits. This series, I don't know if we had a two-out hit with a runner in scoring position."

While the A's OPS hasn't been an issue, to Kotsay's point, the A's have racked up 57 home runs this season, which ranks them 16th in MLB. Last season they ranked 7th. 

The concern for this weekend is that they're set to face the New York Yankees, who lead baseball in home runs this season with 82 — eight more than the next-best team. The A's offense will have to show up at home in order to give the team a shot this weekend. 

The message for the off-day on Thursday before that series begins on Friday?

"Flush [this series] and get away from the game. Go do something you enjoy. Go be with your family," Kotsay said. "We've have some success against New York, and I think we should reflect on that and come out ready to play on Friday [against the Yankees]."

The starters for that series have not been fully announced just yet, though we do know that Luis Severino (2-5, 4.23 ERA) will be starting Friday's game, while J.T. Ginn (2-3, 3.19) will get the ball on Saturday. 

The Yankees have not announced any of their starters at this time, and we do not know if the A's will be using an opener in front of Jacob Lopez again on Sunday — if he is indeed the bulk guy in the finale. 

The A's offense needs a boost from somewhere. Who is providing that boost this weekend? Join AthleticsRoundtable — it's free — and let us know which bat is going to have a big series. Never miss an article by following Jason @ByJasonB!