A's Looking to Send Message to Texas Rangers This Weekend

This series won't be easy for the Athletics

Aug 25, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers (23) celebrates with third baseman Brett Harris (11) and outfielder Tyler Soderstrom (21) after hitting a grand slam against the Detroit Tigers during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The Athletics are the hottest team in the American League entering this weekend's series with the Texas Rangers, sitting with a 21-10 record since July 24. That stretch also includes a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros on the road, as well as series wins against the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels. Most recently, the A's swept the Detroit Tigers, who entered the series with the best record in the American League.

The goal for the A's here is to send a message directly to the Rangers. This season the two teams have split their games so far, with each club boasting five wins. These next three games will determine the winner of the season series.

Outside of an inexplicable 2-8 record against the Angels this season, the A's have handled their own against the AL West, going 6-7 against the Mariners in 13 hard fought contests, while leading the season series with the Astros 6-4 with three more to play in September.

At 68-67, the Rangers are where the A's were hoping they would be this year, which is a roughly .500 club. Outside of a wild 1-20 stretch for the Athletics in May and June, they have actually gone 62-52 (88-win pace), so their total record doesn't show how good the team has been for most of the year.

Winning two out of three this weekend would not only secure the season series against Texas, but it would also get the A's closer to third place in the division. Given that they'd been in last since late May, only to currently sit tied with LA for fourth, this could end up being the team's goal to finish out the year.

The task certainly won't be easy, with the Rangers expected to use Jack Leiter (8-7, 3.81 ERA), Merrill Kelly (10-7, 3.20) and Jacob deGrom (10-6, 2.79) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The A's will be sending out Jeffrey Springs on Friday, and in his one start against the Rangers this season he went six scoreless innings and gave up just two hits and a walk, striking out one.

Saturday's starter has yet to be announced, but it will presumably be either A's prospect Mason Barnett making his MLB debut, or Mitch Spence making his return to the A's roster.

The A's are expected to send J.T. Ginn (2-5, 4.96) out for Sunday's game, and he too shut down the Rangers in Texas earlier this year. Back on July 22, he fired five innings, giving up five hits and one earned run, walking one and striking out a pair.

Ginn has struggled this month, posting a 7.17 ERA across five starts and 21 1/3 innings, but he is a pitcher that can also shut down the opposition, as the Rangers have already seen.

The goal the rest of this season will be to win as many games as possible, which is true for any ballclub. The difference is that the A's still have a shot to finish with a winning record against the two Texas teams in their division, while holding the Mariners to roughly a draw. That's a huge step forward for this club as they surge towards 2026.

There is also the outside possibility that they could reach the .500 mark by the end of September, but they would need to go 18-9 the rest of the way to get there. That's a .667 winning percentage over the course of a full month. Luckily for them, they're currently on a .677 pace over the past 31 games. A series win against Texas would get them that much closer.