Published for Athletics fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 19, 2026
🐘 A’s Fans — The Sacramento Send-Off!
2027 is the final season at Sutter Health Park before Vegas 2028 — make the last Sacramento summer count. Real fans don’t just watch the send-off, they wear it. Grab an Athletics-style home jersey with your favorite star’s number and rep the green and gold.
The Club
The Athletics are baseball’s great wanderers — and one of its most decorated franchises. Founded in 1901 in Philadelphia, they became Kansas City’s team from 1955 to 1967, then Oakland’s from 1968 to 2024, winning nine World Series titles along the way (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, 1930, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1989). Now they play in green and gold with the elephant on the sleeve, branded simply as the Athletics — no city attached — while calling Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento their temporary home for 2025 through 2027. The final destination: a $2 billion, 33,000-seat ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, rising on the old Tropicana site, targeted to open in 2028. No franchise in baseball has ever lived quite like this.
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Last Season (2026): The Year the Injuries Won
The record says 64-98 — fourth in the AL West, 17 games behind the 81-81 Houston Astros, 12 fewer wins than 2025, and a fifth straight season without October baseball. But the record doesn’t tell the story. The story is the training room. Five players who make up the core of this club — Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson — combined to miss 368 games. Opening Day starter Luis Severino went down with a right shoulder strain on May 30 and never threw another pitch all year. The A’s entered spring training with genuine playoff aspirations, building on the momentum of 2025’s 76-win finish. Instead, they spent the summer auditioning prospects in a Triple-A ballpark — and to be fair, some of those kids, like Henry Bolte and Gage Jump, look like they’ll matter in 2027. Off the field, the shakeup was just as dramatic: the club parted ways with GM David Forst in early August after a decade-plus in the job, leaving interim GM Dan Feinstein to steer the winter while the search for a permanent replacement plays out.
Best Players Right Now (2027 Roster)
Nick Kurtz, 23, First Base (#16) — The 2025 AL Rookie of the Year and the face of the Vegas future. When healthy, he’s the middle-of-the-order monster this lineup is built around — and the reason the 2026 collapse hurt most.
Lawrence Butler, 26, Right Field (#4) — Locked up long-term and still ascending. Led the club in games played (153) through the wreckage of 2026, with 17 homers, 62 RBIs and a .325 on-base percentage.
Brent Rooker, 31, Designated Hitter (#25) — The veteran slugger and clubhouse anchor, extended long-term. His bat was sorely missed during his long injury absence — getting a full season from him changes everything.
Tyler Soderstrom, 24, Left Field (#21) — Signed to a seven-year extension and worth it: 19 homers, a Gold Glove finalist in left, and one of the purest swings on the roster.
Jacob Wilson, 24, Shortstop (#6) — The contact machine. Also locked up for seven years — he simply does not strike out, and the A’s believe he’s a batting-title threat every season.
Shea Langeliers, 28, Catcher (#23) — Power from behind the plate and the pitching staff’s trusted backstop. Another core piece whose missed time in 2026 was felt daily.
Zack Gelof, 26, Third Base (#20) — The team leader in home runs (22) and runs scored (76) in 2026. When the power plays, he’s an All-Star-caliber infielder.
Jeff McNeil, 34, Second Base (#22) — The steady veteran. Hit a team-best .266 and played 143 games — the kind of professional at-bat a young lineup needs around it.
Henry Bolte, 23, Center Field (#33) — The breakout. Forced his way into the 2027 center-field job with 21 steals and electric defense — one of the genuine finds of the lost season.
Luis Severino, 32, Starting Pitcher (#40) — The Opening Day starter whose season ended May 30 with a shoulder strain. If he’s right in 2027, he stabilizes a rotation that desperately needs a tone-setter.
Jeffrey Springs, 33, Starting Pitcher — The veteran lefty counted on for innings and leadership while the young arms develop around him.
Manager: Mark Kotsay — Signed through 2028 with a club option for 2029, but his future is the winter’s great unknown: a new general manager is expected before the World Series, and new front offices often bring their own dugout voice. Nobody has navigated stranger circumstances with more steadiness.
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Star Spotlight: Stories You Should Know
368 games, gone. Rooker, Kurtz, Langeliers, Soderstrom, Wilson: 368 combined games missed to injury in 2026 — essentially two full seasons of core production, vanished. Add Severino’s lost year and you get a 64-98 record that says less about the talent in green and gold than about the cruelest injury luck in baseball. The front office’s entire 2027 plan starts with a simple hope: health.
The core is locked up. Before the injuries hit, the A’s did something smart: they signed the future. Rooker and Butler got long-term extensions, then Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson inked seven-year deals — along with 2025 Rookie of the Year Kurtz, the entire next great Athletics team is signed or under club control through at least 2029. Whoever the new GM is inherits a foundation most rebuilding clubs would envy.
The bandbox and the palace. Sutter Health Park — a 14,000-seat Triple-A park the A’s share with the Giants’ farm club — played as the most hitter-friendly stadium in the majors in 2026, with a park factor of 113 that topped even Coors Field. Meanwhile, 550 miles away on the Las Vegas Strip, crews just installed the third and tallest steel truss arch of the $2 billion future home, still on schedule for 2028. One more summer in the bandbox, then the palace.
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Next Season (2027): The Last Sacramento Summer
Everything about 2027 is a bridge — the third and final season in West Sacramento before the move to Las Vegas — but it doesn’t have to be a lame duck. The formula is straightforward: get the core five healthy, let Bolte and Gage Jump keep emerging, find two reliable starters behind a hopefully-whole Severino, and hire the right general manager to tie it all together. The lineup, when intact, can rake in that bandbox; the pitching staff allowed nearly a full run more per game at home than on the road, so run prevention is the winter’s real project. If the health cooperates and the new front office adds arms, this is a .500-or-better team that can hang around the wild-card race into September. If not, it’s one more development year — with the whole show moving to the desert in 2028. One caveat over everything: the collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, and the sport is bracing for a possible lockout. And for everyone asking “when the Athletics play” — the countdown to the final Sacramento opener is already on.
Mark Your Calendar: Upcoming Games to Watch
Wondering when the Athletics play? The Athletics schedule for 2027 is the last one ever in Sacramento — grab your Athletics tickets early for these:
- March 25, 2027 — 2027 Opening Day (Sutter Health Park): All 30 teams open on the same day, and the A’s begin their third — and final — Sacramento season at home. The farewell tour starts here.
- April 2027 — vs San Francisco Giants (Bay Bridge Series): The rivalry survived the move from Oakland. In a fun twist, the A’s share their Sacramento home city with the Giants’ Triple-A club — the Bay Bridge Series has never had a stranger backdrop.
- May/June 2027 — vs Houston Astros (Sutter Health Park): The 2026 AL West champs come to the bandbox. If the A’s want to announce the bounce-back is real, beating Houston in a slugfest is how you do it.
- July 2027 — vs Texas Rangers: Texas finished just one game behind Houston in 2026. Midsummer in Sacramento, with the division race taking shape — these are the measuring-stick games.
- September 2027 — Final homestand (Sutter Health Park): The last games ever in Sacramento before the move to Las Vegas. Whatever the record says, that series will be emotional — the end of the strangest three-year chapter in franchise history.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. San Francisco Giants — The Bay Bridge Series. The A’s may have left Oakland, but the rivalry with the Giants endures — and sharing a home city with San Francisco’s Triple-A affiliate only adds spice to every meeting.
2. Houston Astros — The team to catch. The 2026 AL West champs at 81-81. Until somebody knocks them off, the road out of the West goes through Houston.
3. Texas Rangers — The division dogfight. Finished a single game behind the Astros in 2026. The A’s and Rangers have spent years trading punches in the West — expect more of the same.
4. Seattle Mariners — The AL West grind. Every division series matters when you’re trying to climb from 64 wins, and Seattle’s pitching always makes these games a battle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 2027 the Athletics' last season in Sacramento?
Yes — 2027 is the Athletics' third and final season at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. The $2 billion, 33,000-seat ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip is targeted to open in 2028.
When do the Athletics play the Giants in 2027?
The Bay Bridge Series comes to Sutter Health Park in April 2027 — with the fun twist that the A's share their Sacramento home city with the Giants' Triple-A club.
Who are the best Athletics players right now?
Nick Kurtz, the 2025 AL Rookie of the Year and the face of the Vegas future; Lawrence Butler, locked up long-term in right field; and veteran slugger Brent Rooker.
Why did the Athletics finish 64-98 in 2026?
Injuries: core players Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson combined to miss 368 games, and Opening Day starter Luis Severino was lost on May 30 to a shoulder strain.
Show Your Colors
From Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland to Sacramento — and soon, Las Vegas — true fans wear the green and gold. Gear up with quality fan sportswear — jerseys, tees and athletic wear built for real supporters:
Shop Fan Sportswear at Toxlay Sports →
Sources & official links: Athletics official site · Athletics tickets
Green and gold forever — one last summer in Sacramento, then the desert awaits.
