After essentially harpooning the Seattle Mariners playoff chances over the weekend, the Athletics defeated the Blue Jays on Monday night.
The Athletics essentially harpooned any remaining playoff hopes for the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, taking three-of-four from their American League West rivals, and then they continued to hurt playoff dreams on Monday night by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 in West Sacramento, Calif.
Now, because the Cleveland Guardians lost, the Blue Jays remain just one game back in the wild card race with 17 games to play, but the point remains: These A's have become a frustrating problem for the American League playoff hopefuls, even despite the fact that most people can't name more than two people in their starting lineup.
See, the Athletics entered the season with some real expectation because of their young core, which is excellent: Nick Kurtz, Shea Langaliers, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson are all very good players, and Kurtz won the American League Rookie of the Year in 2025. While not necessarily young anymore, Brent Rooker is one of the best power hitters in the American League.
The problem? None of those players are healthy right now and all of them are out of the lineup. Ditto for Luis Severino, the team's highest-paid pitcher. Only Lawrence Butler, Jeff McNeil and Zack Gelof remain from the true expected contributors.
The A's entered Monday's game at 30 games under .500 and this series felt like a real chance to make up serious ground for Toronto, but the Jays figured out exactly what the Mariners had for a few days earlier. These Athletics play hard and scrappy. They make contact. Guys are fighting for jobs, and for careers, and it shows.
These A's put five runs (four earned) on Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease in just five innings of work. They "only" struck out six times, forcing his pitch count up and the ball in play. They then got to the history-making closer Louis Varland in the bottom of the ninth, winning on a walk-off infield single by McNeil.
With right-hander Jose Soriano on the mound on Tuesday, the Blue Jays should feel pretty good about their chances, but with these A's? Nothing seems to come easy, especially if a team like the Blue Jays allows them to stick around in a game.
Soriano enters the game at 11-7 with a 3.52 ERA, though he's coming off a 4.2-inning performance against Cleveland. He'll be opposed by Jack Perkins, who is just 3-10 with a 6.50 ERA. He has some good swing-and-miss stuff, as evidenced by his 116 strikeouts in 98.1 innings, but he's had a hard time throwing consistent strikes.
First pitch is 9:40 p.m. ET.
