Oakland A's Building Hope for 2025

Jason Burke | Sep 1, 2024

Aug 30, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Oakland Athletics outfielder Brent Rooker (25) reacts as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland Athletics were 30-56 when the month of June concluded, good for a .349 winning percentage, which was lower than their 102-loss pace in 2022. Since June, the A's have compiled their first winning month since July of 2022 by going 15-9 in July of 2024, and followed that up with another winning month in August, going 14-12.

Altogether they have a 29-21 record since the end of June, and while it's a small sample size, that is a .580 winning percentage, or a 93-win pace over the course of a full season. That record also ranks as the eighth-best in baseball in that span.

Are the A's primed to be a 93-win team in 2025? Probably not, unless there are some key additions made to the roster. Yet, they are showing what they are made of these past two months, and the work that manager Mark Kotsay and his staff have been doing since taking over in 2022 is starting to bear fruit.

The A's aren't going to the postseason in 2024, and they are an extreme longshot to finish above .500 for the year, needing to go 22-4 the rest of the way to get to 81 wins. Right now the main goal should be to not let the Los Angeles Angels (55-80) catch them, which would put the A's back in fifth place in the AL West.

The next goal would be to catch the Texas Rangers and ultimately wind up in third in the West behind the Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners, two teams still in the hunt for the postseason.

The A's still rank 26th in run differential this season with a -71, but that is the type of difference that you can look at with the right club and see more wins on the horizon. The Washington Nationals are another team on the rise, and this year their differential sits at -62. More will be expected of them after calling up top prospects Dylan Crews and James Wood.

For the A's, uncertainty abounds with the relocation process, how the field at Sacramento will be, how the turf will play, etc., but the roster that is being constructed looks like it could be on the fringes of postseason contention heading into the 2025 season.

The hard part during the offseason will be luring free agents to come play in Sacramento's minor-league facility, so the A's may have to rely more on trades and internal development in order to reach those heights.