Mandatory photo credit: Mauricio Segura

By Jeremiah Salmonson

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — 162 starting pitchers, 162 lineup cards, 162 first pitches, it all came to a close on Sunday afternoon as the A’s hosted the Astros for the final game of the 2026 regular season. The A’s had one last chance to play spoiler on Sunday as the Astros needed a win or a Rangers loss to clinch the AL West.

In the end, it didn’t matter if the Astros won or lost as the Rangers were unable to defeat the Twins. However, the Astros defeated the A’s 9-0 to claim the AL West crown.

The A’s went with a bullpen game for the final game of the season. Mark Kotsay elected to go with the right-hander Seth Johnson for the shortened start. Johnson breezed through the first inning but ran into issues trying to get out of the second inning as two walks would ultimately finish his outing. Brady Basso came in with two outs in the second inning to try and clean things up with the bases loaded, which he did, striking out the only batter he faced. Johnson’s final line was one and two-thirds innings while giving up no runs on one hit while walking two and striking out two.

Basso went back out to pitch the third inning for the A’s and struggled. Basso was only able to get two outs in the inning before being lifted. Similarly to Basso, Elvis Alvarado came on and cleaned up the inning, striking out the only batter he faced. However, the damage was already done against Basso. All in, Basso tossed one inning of relief while giving up four runs on three hits while walking one and striking out one.

Alvarado, having finished the third inning, came back out to pitch the fourth for the A’s. Alvarado pitched a clean fourth inning where he struck out two of the three batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit or a walk. All in, Alvarado struck out three of the four hitters he faced and didn’t allow any baserunners in his one and a third innings of work.

In the fifth inning, it was Scott Blewett who came in to pitch. Blewett pitched a strong fifth inning, retiring all three of the batters he faced by way of the groundball. However, he was only able to record one out in the sixth before being lifted. All in, Blewett tossed one and a third innings and gave up two runs on two hits while issuing no walks and not recording any strikeouts.

Chris Roycroft came in to pitch the rest of the sixth and part of the seventh inning. Roycroft also struggled for the A’s as he pitched one inning total and gave up two runs on three hits while walking four and striking out two.

The sixth pitcher of the day for the A’s was Geoff Hartlieb. Hartlieb came in to finish the seventh and also pitched the eighth inning. Hartlieb, like most of the bullpen, struggled to get outs. Hartlieb was able to finish the eighth inning, but he gave up one run on three hits while issuing one free pass and striking out one.

In the ninth, Mark Kotsay turned to Drew Rom. Rom came in and pitched a three-up-three-down ninth inning, allowing no baserunners.

On the offensive side of the ball, the A’s really struggled against the Astros pitching. The A’s weren’t able to score any runs as they were shut out in the game. The A’s hitters managed only five hits and three walks in the game to finish off the season.

The A’s missed out on their goals in the 2026 season, which is something A’s manager Mark Kotsay has reiterated many times over the past few seasons here in Sacramento.

“A tough season,” the A’s manager said after the game. “There’s no way around that. As a group, we feel obviously very disappointed in the results. As I talked about, the greatest lessons of learning are failures, and this season was one of those that I think we have a lot to learn from.”

Injuries didn’t do the A’s any favors in 2026. On the final day of the season, the likes of Tyler Soderstrom, Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz, Luis Severino and others were all hurt.

Shea Langeliers, who himself spent time on the injured list during the 2026 season before coming back a couple of weeks before the end of the season, spoke to the media about how injuries impacted the season.

“I think all encompassing, just kind of a crazy year, the injuries we had to deal with as a team, just kind of battling through that,” Langeliers said after the game.

There’s certainly going to be even more change around the Athletics organization in 2027. Kotsay himself acknowledged that after the game.

“There’s been a lot of change. There’s going to be more change. It’s been a really tough year for everyone in the organization.”