The A's have finally won a series for the first time since the middle of June, and funnily enough, it came on the road against the hottest team in baseball over the past six weeks. That's baseball. With that monkey off the team's collective backs, the club can now get back to working towards the future. 

With the A's holding a 47-71 record, the rest of this season is all about the development of the younger players, and creating a winning culture in the clubhouse over the final seven weeks of the season. The goal is to create a carryover effect for the team to take into 2027 when they'll be re-tooled and at full strength. 

When 2027 rolls around, the A's will have Brent Rooker back, as well as Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers, giving them three big pieces of the lineup back on the roster. Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom have also been banged up this season, and will hopefully be closer to full strength by then. 

With the lineup getting a boost, the pitching staff is going to be the big question mark heading into the offseason. Here are three players to keep an eye on the rest of the way.

The 26-year-old right-hander has the stuff to be a big-league weapon for this team, but thus far he hasn't had the results to back up keeping him as a piece of the rotation heading into 2027.

Perkins has a 7.04 ERA and has given up 15 home runs in 76 ⅔ innings this season. The main issue for Perkins has seemed to be that he'll have one big blow-up inning, but otherwise be cruising throughout his outing.

This is exemplified by his 4.76 FIP and a 58.2% left-on-base rate. The FIP suggests that he's not getting a ton of help in the field and is getting a little unlucky, posting a .320 BABIP. The LOB% suggests that once he lets someone on base, he falters. That home run rate with his ERA suggests that those moments come with runners on.

What we want to see over his final starts is consistency. That starts with providing at least five innings each time out to save the bullpen. That's the bare minimum the A's should be expecting from their rotation the rest of the way. 

The other piece is to improve that LOB% and not let a little bit of trouble derail an outing. 

Perkins wants to be in the rotation, and he's been given plenty of opportunities this season. Injuries to the rotation have kept those opportunities coming his way, but if he wants to continue being in the A's rotation plans for 2027 and not be sent back to the bullpen as a late-inning weapon, then this is the time for him to earn his spot. 

Since getting called up for his MLB debut on May 13, Bolte has been in the A's lineup, playing center field, nearly every game. Entering play on Monday, he's appeared in 75 games for the A's this season and is batting .256 with a .333 OBP, five home runs, and a 95 wRC+. 

At the end of June, we wrote that his speed was covering up the fact that he wasn't putting the ball in the air at all, and while he was batting .317 at the time of publication, he was beating out infield grounders at that point. From the day that came out until now, Bolte has hit .180 with a .248 OBP and a 46 wRC+. 

That said, his numbers are improving in August, and most importantly, he's notched two home runs in eight games. In that span he's 10-for-32 with four extra-base hits. The one lingering issue is that he's still striking out at a 33% clip.

What we need to see from Bolte is the continuation of adding lift to his swing. When we wrote about his launch angle at the end of June, it was sitting at -0.6 degrees. Now his launch angle on the season has risen to 1.9 degrees, which is a terrific sign. 

Bolte taking those steps down the stretch in 2026 would cement him as the centerfielder in 2027, even with a healthy Denzel Clarke. Earning that spot on the roster would also make Clarke a very valuable trade chip that could help solve some of the A's pitching woes. 

The A's haven't had an established closer all season, but in their lone move at the trade deadline, they acquired a hard-throwing righty in Seth Johnson that has the arsenal to claim the job.

In his first appearance, Johnson provided two solid innings of work, giving up one solo homer while striking out four. Two days later he was pitching the eighth inning for Mark Kotsay in Boston in a 6-2 game. He's going to get tested in big situations before long. Right now Kotsay appears to be feeling him out and trying him in different scenarios. 

If Johnson is able to latch onto a late-inning role in these final two months, that would be a big boost to the roster heading into 2027. He averages 98.2 mph with the fastball and has electric stuff grades across all of his offerings, but his ability to command the baseball will be the real test.

In his first outing, he started off just two of the nine Reds he faced with a strike. On Saturday against the Red Sox, three of four began down 0-1. The A's have also seemed to limit his pitch mix a bit more, going predominantly four-seamer/slider in his first appearance, and then solely those two offerings this weekend. 

Both Johnson and Elvis Alvarado have a traditional closer's arsenal with high octane heat, but Alvarado has had some chances with the club over the past two seasons. Johnson hasn't had those opportunities yet, which is why he's the guy to watch in the bullpen the rest of the way.

Gage Jump and Jacob Lopez could have easily been on this list as well, as both arms will be key to the A's rotation in 2027, but Perkins has been the least consistent of the three, and offers the most potential upside in another role.

With the bats, Tommy White is another player to keep an eye on. He's hitting .253 with a .271 OBP and is only striking out at a 17.6% clip, but he has a 49 wRC+ because just two of his 21 hits in the big leagues have gone for extra bases. Like Bolte, he has a launch angle of just four degrees. The reason that he wasn't on the list is that he's arguably on the roster because of injuries, not because he was ready for the call-up. 

Max Muncy is the final guy that we would have included, but there is no guarantee that he'll be up on the roster once Zack Gelof returns on Monday. Muncy has the tools to be an effective player for the A's, but roster spots are running out quickly. His 34.2% strikeout rate could lead the A's to consider moving him in the offseason. He'd be another big trade piece to attract pitching, and there aren't a ton of spots on offense left unclaimed.