A's talking playoffs after last season's improved play with Las Vegas move in the background

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Especially with a young team, even one as talented as the Athletics, last season could have easily gotten away from them.

The A's lost 20 of 21 games at one point, the massive slump finally ending June 5 with a 14-3 romp against Minnesota.

They not only went on to post a winning record the rest of the season, the A's set themselves up for potential playoff talk this year — and they aren't shying away from it.

“We felt we were one of the best teams in baseball at the end of last season,” 2025 unanimous AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz said Saturday.

The A's are in Las Vegas, where they lost 3-0 to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. The teams meet again Sunday before the A's return to their spring training camp in Mesa, Arizona.

The players visited their future ballpark under construction on the Las Vegas Strip. Some players watched the Vegas Golden Knights play their NHL game on Friday night and some were planning to attend UFC 326 on Saturday night. Manager Mark Kotsay said he would spend the evening at his Las Vegas-area home.

Whether in Las Vegas or Mesa these days, the A's are preparing for the second of three planned seasons at a Triple-A stadium in West Sacramento, California. They are scheduled to begin playing in Las Vegas in 2028.

Management has signed several players over the past two offseasons with the '28 season in mind in hopes of making a big splash in their new city.

But there is business to be done first, and that includes trying to end a five-year playoff drought.

The A's went 53-46 after ending that big slump last season, tied with Cincinnati for the 11th-best mark in that time. They went 35-29 after the All-Star break, the ninth-best record.

That doesn't guarantee anything this season, but that improved play from the young, potentially dynamic lineup fuels optimism.

“I think last year, for the last 2 1/2 months, we showed that (ability),” Kotsay said. “We've got to continue to maintain that type of performance for six months. That's been our struggle over the last few seasons, has been (the ability) to maintain consistency.”

The A's went into last season with similarly high hopes after going 32-32 after the All-Star break in 2024. That finish was a marked improvement over a 37-61 record the first part of the season as the club took the field with the distraction of playing in front of an angry fanbase in the last of 57 seasons in Oakland.

But then the 1-20 stretch early last season doomed such hopes.

“I think we win half of those, we're right there pushing for a wild card at the end of the year,” All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson said. “I think a lot of guys learned from that on how to get out of that as a team. I think we're going to go into this year kind of knowing how to get out of it early rather than let it drag on for a couple of weeks. I think if we do that, we're going to be in a good spot when the year comes to an end.”

The A's have a number of young players they have signed through at least 2028 for their hopeful big splash in Las Vegas.

Before this season, Wilson signed a $70 million, seven-year contract and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom inked an $86 million, seven-year deal.

Those signings continued a trend for the usually tight-fisted A's that began the previous offseason with deals that included a $60 million, five-year contract for designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker and a $65.5 million, seven-year deal for outfielder Lawrence Butler.

Kurtz, who beat out Wilson for the AL's top rookie award, figures to be next in line. There have been reports the A's made him an offer, but no agreement has been announced.

“I leave that to my agents,” Kurtz said. “I'm focused on what's going on today and how I can help the team win some ballgames.”

Kotsay acknowledged the identity of his team is offense, which helps raise the question of whether the A's have the pitching to take the next step. The Athletics' team ERA going into Saturday was 6.14 this spring, sixth-worst in the big leagues. It's tricky reading much into spring training statistics, but pitching was already an uncertainty.

Kotsay wouldn't put that kind of pressure on his staff when asked if the pitching was playoff-worthy, saying it takes the entire team.

It's a team with high hopes, and if there is any time of year to be optimistic, this is it before the real games begin.

“We were just a rough first half away from being in the postseason going into October, so it's pretty exciting to know that we can do it,” Kurtz said. “That's what the second half showed us.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Milwaukee Brewers' Akil Baddoo (25) steals second base as Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson, left, reaches for a late throw during the fifth inning of a spring training baseball game Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz flips the baseball to the pitcher covering first base to get Milwaukee Brewers' Brice Turang out during the fifth inning of a spring training baseball game Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Berger stopped making as many birdies even after a rain delay took some of the bite out of Bay Hill on Saturday. He still had a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational when darkness kept the third round from finishing.

Berger was to return Sunday morning to face a 35-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th. After watching Akshay Bhatia get up-and-down from a bunker for birdie to close within two, Berger handed the putter to his caddie and decided to wait 13 hours before his next putt.

Regardless of how the third round concludes, Bay Hill had that feeling of being a tournament again instead of the one-man show Berger had made it going into the weekend with a five-shot lead.

That won't be the case for Rory McIlroy, who felt muscle spasms in his back and decided to withdraw about 30 minutes before his tee time. It was his first time withdrawing from a tournament in 13 years, though it was not likely to keep him from The Players Championship.

Scottie Scheffler likely shot himself out of the tournament. The world's No. 1 player went from a bad start to an electric back nine of five birdies in a six-hole stretch, only for his approach on 18 out of ankle-deep rough to bounce off the bank and into the water.

That led to double bogey and a 72, leaving what likely will be a double-digit deficit.

Berger was at 13-under par — even for the round — though his two-shot lead was almost certain to grow when he returns for that eagle putt. Bhatia was 11 under with the daunting finish to come.

“It’s an uncomfortable golf course,” Bhatia said. “And it’s not going to get any easier.”

Cameron Young ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine on a Bay Hill course he has been coming to since he was in elementary school. That led to a 67, and he posted at 9-under 207 along Sepp Straka (66) and Collin Morikawa, who barely beat the darkness for his 70.

Young is pure New York, having grown up at Sleepy Hollow when his father was the head pro. But the Youngs always came to Orlando for a few months in the winter, playing out of nearby Orange Tree and spending some time at Bay Hill. He remembers one year being close enough to Tiger Woods to touch his golf clubs.

But the reach connection is The King. Young has an economics degree from Wake Forest, the alma mater of Arnold Palmer.

“I looked up at his statute going to practice every day at school,” Young said. "He had a tremendous influence on golf in general, and at Wake Forest. So yeah, it definitely is a very, very clear meaning in my head of what this tournament represents and what he represents.

“It would be a huge honor to even have a chance, honestly.”

Players felt like they were on two courses. Bay Hill was a brute before the round was halted for just over an hour because of heavy rain. With so little grass on the greens — dead grass, at that — pools of water formed quickly.

They returned to see greens a little softer, certainly not as scary to putt.

“The rain created a little bit of friction to where your ball was more rolling instead of kind of skidding is how I would describe it,” Scheffler said.

Young described the difference as substantial, enough rain to make the small blades of grass stand up enough for putts to hold their line.

“It went from what we know Bay Hill for on the weekend to just a notch below that,” he said.

Berger traded two birdies on par 5s with a pair of bogeys when he missed the green, nothing like the golf that produced 14 birdies the opening two rounds. But he kept his wits, and kept the lead.

So much depends on the putts — or putt — he takes on the 16th and the final two holes to see how the final round will shape up.

Young isn't sure it matters.

“Anything can happen,” he said. “I don't know what Daniel is going to do, I don't know where I'm going to finish the day. But any time you get a golf course this difficult, and this many good players within a couple shots of each other ... any one of them could take a really difficult golf course and make it look easy.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Scottie Scheffler watches his shot land on the first green during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Friday, March 6, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Cameron Young hits on the 16th hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Fans walk in the rain along the fifth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Akshay Bhatia hits on the sixth hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Daniel Berger hits out of a bunker on the second hole during the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill golf tournament Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)