A's Tyler Soderstrom: "We Want to Win in Sacramento"

The A's are sitting in first place, and the clubhouse wants to bring postseason baseball to Sacramento

Apr 18, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics left fielder Tyler Soderstrom (21) bats during the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Scott Marshall-Imagn Images | Scott Marshall-Imagn Images

When the A's arrived in Sacramento for the 2025 season, there was no guarantee that if the team made the playoffs that those games would even be played in their temporary home. Heading into 2026, that's no longer the case, as all potential postseason play is planned for West Sacramento.

There are questions about how the team would fit the necessary media into the ballpark, and plenty of logistical hurdles that come along with that announcement, and the A's play on the field is making it so that these aren't some far-off ideas — concrete plans may need to be ready by October.

We're still in May, but the A's are at 20-18, holding a 1.5 game lead over the Seattle Mariners. There have been plenty of gripes about this team — namely a lack of trust in the bullpen as assembled — but the offense hasn't really gotten going yet, and that is the engine that makes this team go. There is still room for this club to improve, and it's expected that they will.

On Friday night in Baltimore, the A's received a key start from Jacob Lopez, who went 5 1/3 innings, gave up three hits, two earned runs (two solo homers), walked two and struck out five. He entered the fifth inning in a familiar position to his previous outing, right around 60 pitches and cruising, only against the Orioles, he didn't collapse.

If he's able to continue building on this and work deeper into games more consistently, the A's rotation could have five starters capable of keeping them in games. With the explosive offense of the green and gold, that's all they need.

The A's aren't waiting for Las Vegas

Tyler Soderstrom is one of the cornerstone pieces of the club, and one of four players signed to an extension by the team. The 24-year-old is a key bat in the lineup, but is also one that hasn't found his stride yet, batting .213 with a .303 OBP, five home runs and 20 RBI. Those runs batted in are tied with Shea Langeliers and Nick Kurtz for the team lead.

The A's clubhouse knows how good this team can be, and they fully expect to be contending for a postseason berth this season. Tyler Soderstrom talked to Sactown Sports 1140 earlier this week, and his focus is on making sure the A's have to figure out how to make accommodations for Sutter Health Park in October.

"Everyone says, 'oh, you're going to Vegas. Be ready for Vegas in two years, but that's definitely not our mindset. Our mindset is that we wanna win in Sacramento this year. We want to get to the postseason in Sacramento this year. It's been one of our big mottos actually this year, going in spring and going into the season: 'we're going to win this year in Sac.'"

Soderstrom continued, "It's definitely a unique situation. We love Sac. Sac's been great to us. The work that they've done over at Sutter Health has been awesome. We have a great thing going on there."

There is still plenty of season left to find out exactly what this team is made of and if they're in the postseason picture. But the clubhouse believes they have the talent, and the trade deadline will present an opportunity for the team to fix any glaring holes to make that push.