The Athletics are one of the worst teams in baseball, which is a bit frustrating because they made some good progress last year.This season, they are almost 30 games under .500 and have a chance to be the worst team in baseball.
I'm not sure there is one single thing you can point at as a reason for the failures.Perhaps it is due to injuries - Nick Kurtz and Shane Langeliers have played fewer than 100 games.
Maybe it is that their pitching staff has one of the worst ERAs in the game at 5.47 and a 1.50 WHIP.Athletics left fielder Carlos Cortes, center fielder Zack Gelof and right fielder Lawrence Butler celebrate the Athletics' win over the Kansas City Royals in West Sacramento, California, on April 29, 2026.(Scott Marshall/AP Photo)Today, the Athletics send out Gage Jump to the hill in hopes of maybe lowering that team ERA.
Jump is 5-7 for the season with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP, so not much better than the overall team marks.Jump is still young, just 23 years old, so this is mostly a development year for him.
He has shown strong performances on the road with a 2.60 road ERA.He has made six road starts this season and has allowed just 10 earned runs on the road, with six of them coming in one game.The Kansas City Royals don't have much room to talk, and arguably have been the more disappointing team this season.
They are 21 games under .500 this season, but they were expected to win the AL Central division.Even if they weren't going to win it, they were expected to at least be competitive.
They have been playing good baseball lately, winning four of the past five games.Offensively, they aren't much different than the Athletics, but the pitching has been slightly better.Kansas City Royals pitcher Seth Lugo throws during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Md.
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