Hello! Welcome to another edition of the A’s beat newsletter. |
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SAN FRANCISCO – The Athletics officially reached the halfway point of the season on Thursday with a dramatic 9-6 comeback victory over the Giants in what was their 81st game of the 2026 campaign. With a record of 39-42, the A’s are on pace to finish with 78 wins, which would be their best record since an 86-76 finish to the 2021 season. It’s going to take a better second half to finish above .500, but even as things stand right now, these playoff-aspiring A’s remain staunchly in the hunt. They entered Thursday trailing the Mariners by just 1 1/2 games for first place in the AL West and are well within reach of a Wild Card spot. Being at the midway point of the schedule, let’s hand out some first-half team awards: |
MVP: 1B Nick Kurtz It’s a toss-up here between Kurtz and Shea Langeliers, who is on track to become the first A’s catcher to start an All-Star Game since Terry Steinbach in 1988. Entering Friday’s series opener against the Angels, Kurtz was slashing .278/.426/.533 with a .959 OPS that ranks sixth in the Majors. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year also leads MLB in RBIs (62) and walks (73), while his 19 homers are the fourth most among all first basemen. Cy Young: RHP J.T. Ginn A’s No. 3/MLB No. 37 overall prospect Gage Jump is building a strong case with his electric start to his big league career, but Ginn has been a strong and steady presence in this rotation. Since moving into the rotation on April 10, Ginn is 5-4 with a 2.97 ERA in 14 starts. His first half was highlighted by a dominant performance of eight innings of one-run ball against the Phillies in Philadelphia on May 7, followed by taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning at Angel Stadium two starts later. |
Top rookie: LHP Gage Jump Jump is living up to the hype as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. The 23-year-old left-hander holds a 2.04 ERA over his first six starts and made history by becoming just the third A’s pitcher in the Integration Era (since 1947) to not allow a home run in his first six career starts, joining Tim Conroy (1978-82) and Jim Archer (1961). Best defensive play: Colby Thomas takes one back from Jo Adell Taking a page out of teammate Denzel Clarke’s book, Thomas produced an early contender for catch of the year on June 21 when he fearlessly leaped at the short wall in right field at Sutter Health Park and robbed Adell of a home run with a sensational catch before landing on top of the wall and crashing hard back down to the ground. Best game: June 19 vs. Angels There are plenty of contenders here in a year in which the A’s have already notched 22 comeback wins, most in the AL and fourth most in MLB. We’ll go with this wild night in West Sacramento that saw the A’s come all the way back from what was an 11-4 deficit against the Angels entering the bottom of the sixth to snatch an unlikely victory in the 10th inning. A trio of two-run homers in the seventh, eighth and ninth – including Jonah Heim’s dramatic two-run homer off the bench with the A’s down to their final out – sent the game to extras, where Kurtz literally walked it off by drawing a bases-loaded walk in the 10th. |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
After receiving the most votes (2,077,756) during Phase 1 of voting for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, Langeliers is now a finalist for the Midsummer Classic along with Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk. Phase 2 of voting begins Monday, June 29, at 9 a.m. PT and is available exclusively online via mobile devices at MLB.com/vote, all 30 Club websites, the MLB App and the MLB Ballpark App. Voting concludes at 9 a.m. PT on Thursday, July 2. During this second phase of voting, in which fans can vote once per day on MLB platforms, vote totals will reset and the winner at each position will be named a starting position player for the All-Star Game. |
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“That was huge for us. Especially given the circumstances of the game, it was like old Battle of the Bay just coming back and seeing all the A’s fans in the crowd. Especially after the loss yesterday, that was a tough one, so for us to come back and win today was huge.” – A’s right fielder Lawrence Butler, on the A’s comeback win Thursday in San Francisco and seeing a large contingent of A’s fans throughout the stands at Oracle Park |
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