Jack Perkins provided an on-the-field positive for the franchise, while another losing season has provided them the odds to land the No. 1 pick in next year's draft.
Despite the Athletics losing six straight games on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians — two teams hoping to make deep postseason runs — the A's head back to Sacramento with a pair of positives to look forward to.
First, and we'll tackle this in more detail tonight, but Jack Perkins put together another strong outing, firing six innings of one-run ball, giving up five hits, and allowing zero walks while striking out four. He tossed 80 pitches (54 strikes) and has seemingly turned the corner that his talent has suggested is there all season.
Since August 18, Perkins has made seven appearances (five true starts, two as a bulk guy) and he holds a 2.62 ERA in the span of 34 ⅓ innings, including back-to-back starts with at least six innings of work. The added bonus with each of those two outings is that his pitch count has been low when he's exited.
A's Assured Top Odds at Top Pick
At first glance, it's too early for the A's to have secured the best odds for the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft, but there are some factors at play here. First off, the Colorado Rockies have MLB's worst record at 57-99, followed by the Los Angeles Angels (60-96) and Athletics (61-95).
One spot above the A's are the San Francisco Giants (64-92), who are just three games better than the green and gold this season. With six games to go, it would appear as though the A's have the inside track at being a bottom three team, but haven't quite secured that title.
However, since the Giants held a lottery pick in this year's MLB Draft and pay into revenue sharing, they cannot hold a lottery pick in the 2027 MLB Draft. The highest they can select is the 10th overall pick.
The Kansas City Royals (67-89) are exactly six games better than the A's right now, but we don't have to wait to see if there is a massive comeback in the final week because the Royals went 5-2 against the A's this season and hold the tiebreaker in that scenario.
All of this is to say that the Rockies, Angels, and A's have secured the best odds at landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 MLB Draft, with each team holding 19.1% odds. All three clubs will also hold 87.6% odds of finishing in the top six for the draft.
Thus far, the A's have not been favored by the lottery system. Last year they finished with a 76-86 record, tied with Atlanta, but the Braves held the tiebreaker, moving the A's up in the draft odds. The Rockies, Angels, and Washington Nationals were also not allowed to pick in the lottery, improving the A's odds. They ended up dropping two spots anyway and getting the No. 8 pick, which turned into Drew Burress this summer.
In 2025 the Athletics had to pick 11th after two years in the lottery.
In 2023 the A's held the worst record in baseball at 50-112, and in 2024 they ended up falling to the 4th overall pick, which happened to be Nick Kurtz.
The 2022 season was similarly awful for the green and gold, and they finished with the second-worst record in baseball. They ended up selecting No. 6 in the draft, picking Jacob Wilson.
The A's have had the best odds in the draft in the past and have yet to pick in the top three in the new system. This will be another chance — and hopefully their last for a while — to earn that top pick.
