A's Begin the Year With Big Jump in Power Rankings

The A's may not be sneaking up on anyone this season

Sep 26, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers (23) celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk-off RBI double during the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

While it's still early January, it's never too early to start getting ready for the upcoming season. Pitchers and catchers are reporting in just over a month, after all.

Over at MLB.com, they released their initial power rankings for 2026, and the A's are starting off in a great spot. After finishing the 2025 campaign ranked No. 23, they start the new year in the No. 18 spot, one ahead of the San Francisco Giants, and two up on the Texas Rangers, who will be vying to return to competition in the AL West.

Their reasoning: "Signing Tyler Soderstrom to a contract extension was a sign that the A’s know on which side their bread is buttered: This is a team built around young, extremely exciting hitters. Now comes the hard part, which is finding pitching to support them. But the A’s have serious surprise potential this year, no?"

Since the final pitch of the 2025 campaign, the A's have looked like a popular surprise or "sleeper" pick for 2026. While the pitching staff hasn't been helped much just yet, as the above blurb notes, this club is built around its bats, and the offense ranked in the top-10 in wRC+ last season. That was before the addition of Jeff McNeil, who could see a nice boost playing in Sacramento.

There's also plenty of reason to believe that the pitching staff will perform a little better in 2026. Last year, Luis Severino struggled at home until July, but then he began to pick things up. Over his final four home starts, he held a 3.00 ERA, and he'll also be equipped with the "Severino Room" at Sutter Health Park, which could lead to better results.

Further, the A's have a number of young starters that could make a big impact on the club in 2026. Luis Morales made his MLB debut last season, and held a 3.14 ERA across 10 appearances (nine starts) down the stretch. He'll be slotted into the back-end of the rotation, but he could be a number two or three type pitcher.

Of course there are the prospects, like No. 3 Gage Jump, No. 4 Braden Nett, or No. 8 Henry Baez; any of whom could get a look as the season goes on. And let's not forget about last year's first rounder, Jamie Arnold, who is the A's No. 2 prospect, and No. 38 in all of MLB.

They are all internal options that could certainly help out down the line in 2026.

But they also have intriguing internal options that could help out earlier in the year, like J.T. Ginn, who struggled at home last year, like Severino. He also held a 3.14 ERA on the road, so he showed that he can be a solid pitcher at the big league level. The question is whether the A's can get that out of him in Sacramento.

Jack Perkins is another very intriguing option for the A's in 2026, but the real question for him is what role he'll take on for the club. He seems like the perfect person to step in as the A's next closer, but the front office may not be ready to limit him to relief just yet, as he'd be more valuable as a starter.

He held a 4.19 ERA (4.12 FIP) in his 38 2/3 innings last year, and he touches the upper 90's. Perkins is still a little bit of a work in progress, but his tools are loud, and when he puts it all together he'll be practically un-hittable.

So yeah, sitting at No. 18 in the year's first power rankings isn't the worst spot for the A's. The AL West champions, the Seattle Mariners, are ranked No. 3, while the Houston Astros, who have had an interesting offseason, rank No. 14.