Elephant Rumblings: Takeaways from 2026

With just three games remaining in the regular season, this seems like an appropriate time to reflect on an Athletics season that began with promise before a rash of injuries and a league-worst pitching staff contributed to another summer collapse.

Making matters worse is the fact that the 2026 American League West was the worst division in MLB history. Either the Houston Astros or Texas Rangers will win the division and play in the playoffs despite finishing the season with at best a .500 record. As a result, this year will go down as a missed opportunity for the A's to be involved in a postseason race, something the franchise has yet to experience under manager Mark Kotsay.

However, given the pitching staff Kotsay had at his disposal, it was not surprising that the A's finished the season with the league's second-worst ERA and allowed the second-most runs, behind only the Colorado Rockies . Additionally, the Green and Gold allowed the most home runs and posted the league's second-worst WHIP.