Most teams can afford to assess their postseason standing over the next four weeks and determine whether they'll be buyers or sellers. The A's have never been "most teams." They march to the beat of their own green and gold drums. 

Despite a 39-42 record, the A's are tied with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers in the AL West, and 1.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners. They're also in a four-way tie for the final AL Wild Card spot with the Astros, Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays. Despite how the season has gone so far, with some additions, this team could still contend. 

While this may not be the team's best shot at a World Series in this competitive window, if the A's have learned anything, it's that you have to make the most of each and every opportunity.

It's not often that the best overall team wins the final game of the season. It's about who gets hot, and the A's could have enough pieces to get hot in October.

With each proposal that passes by between MLB and the MLBPA, the likelihood of a lockout rises. The two sides don't appear to be anywhere close to the same page, let alone the same book. 

The added pressure of this offseason for the A's is that the 2027 season — if there is one — will be their final dress rehearsal before the Las Vegas curtain rises. While most believe that the players will be locked out when the CBA expires in December, opinions are less sure of how things will look when games are actually on the line.

The sport is on the rise and is generating significant revenue, and if the owners want to sacrifice that profit trend to really dig in for a salary cap that the players will never agree to, then the timing could be very detrimental for the sport.

Assuming games are played in 2027, the offseason figures to be compressed, with free agents having less time to negotiate with teams, while teams have less time to make trades ahead of Opening Day.

That time crunch means that the A's aren't likely to have the time they would be hoping for to bring prospective free agents out to Las Vegas to show them the progress of the ballpark and give them their pitch. 

That doesn't bode well for the team's offseason plans, which means that the offseason could be a very familiar one for the A's, where they are left signing players that haven't received much traction elsewhere. 

If the A's are hoping to make that push towards 2028, they're going to have to start adding those pieces now, at this trade deadline.

New York Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta or Kansas City Royals lefty Kris Bubic are one type of player the A's could go after. They're free agents at the end of the season, but the A's could also build that relationship with either of them the rest of this season, get them out to Las Vegas before the lockout, and potentially even sign them to an extension before December. 

That is one way for the A's to approach this deadline, though it comes with the risk that they would be unable to re-sign the player.

The other path forward would be to acquire players with team control through at least 2027, and potentially even 2028. Reid Detmers of the Angels is the type of player that fits this scenario. He's signed through 2028 and is arbitration eligible for the next two seasons.

The downside with this type of move would be that Detmers would cost a lot more in prospect capital, though this move would give the A's a potential ace of the rotation to pair with Gage Jump and perhaps even Jamie Arnold in short order. The one downside here would be giving up that significant prospect capital to a division rival.

Given the structural disadvantages the A's face by playing in a minor-league park for one season and the new ballpark still under construction, the team will need to be creative at the trade deadline in order to set themselves up for not only the rest of 2026, but into the next season or two as well. 

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