It is season 2 and we have a ton of new faces in the locker room and a new city with a buzzing fanbase. After a disappointing season, I am hoping that I made enough moves to have an impact on the team and spark a solid run.
As is the custom here, we skip Spring Training, Opening day and all games until the All Star break. At the time of the midsummer classic, we have a pleasant record of 50-46 which was capped by an 11-game winning streak going into the break. With this mid-season surge and respectable record, we still reside in 4th place (11 games out of first place) but 4.5 out of a wild card spot.
Statistically, we are having a stronger offensive season, but pitching is painfully inconsistent. Mason Miller is still a beast, and he was good enough to make another All Star Game as the lone pitching representative for Montreal. He was, however, joined again by teammate Brent Rooker and newcomer, Gleyber Torres. Look at that! Balling on a budget in the offseason got me an all-star infielder.
Brent Rooker also made the Home Run Derby which was a nice little treat as well.
Now, we move a few more weeks to the Trade Deadline. My biggest and most obvious need was third base. Abraham Toro was struggling mightily in his contract year and even though I traded for him to mostly be a stopgap last year, his performance was disappointing, nonetheless. He was sharing time with Cristopher Morel at the hot corner and both players have massively underperformed.
Toro was hitting under .210 with only 3 home runs to his name. Morel was hitting a more respectable .244 with 11 homers and 33 RBI, but I need some power in this lineup to support Rooker and Gleyber Torres who are both on pace for very nice seasons.
Side note, Brent Rooker has 31 home runs and 84 RBI while slashing .291 at this point, so he is in the midst of something special. He is a primary reason why we are still in the playoff picture.
Anyway, back to third base. After looking for young and cheap power potential, I called a familiar team about a familiar player. If you can recall from the second chapter of this series, I once inquired with the Orioles about Coby Mayo. The power in this kid’s bat is insane and I want him. Turns out, in a down year for Baltimore, they have less hesitation trading him as he is no longer being viewed as a prospect, I suppose. I sent Abraham Toro and #12 prospect, Grant Holman, on over to Baltimore and got my guy.
Mayo is currently hitting .232 and has a low OBP of .314, but his 24 home runs and 44 total extra base hits sold me. He is only 24 and will be under contract with Montreal for quite some time. We may not feel the immediate impact in this second half, but he is better than what we had, and he could be a massive building block to my franchise going forward.
Third base has been fixed.
Starting pitching has been underwhelming, and I will cover more stat-related coverage at the end of each season, but know that at this point, Joey Estes is outperforming Shane McClanahan, Luis Severino, Jeff Springs and an injured AJ Smith-Shawver. Springs is really concerning me now as he has pitched to a concerning 4.69 ERA and 1.51 WHIP in 22 games started. He must be better in the second half.
With all that said, I am going to let this staff rock on through the second half. My bullpen has been mostly solid, but Alex Lange has been a massive let down. His 6.14 ERA and 1.91 WHIP will not cut it in my house. I set out to acquire a bullpen arm to replace him.
I was able to strike a very lowkey deal with the Chicago Cubs and bring Tyson Miller aboard. He is a journeyman reliever at this stage of his career and is now in the process of stringing 3 solid relief seasons together. His 2.04 ERA and 0.93 WHIP can boost the back end of my bullpen greatly in the latter half of the season.
Time for some bench bats. Christian Pache can take his nonexistent power and his .217 average back to AAA. Max Schuemann has been horrendous off the bench as he, like Pache, also has 0 home runs and has hit to a .220 average so far. Jacob Wilson is on my bench, and he ALSO has 0 blasts and is hitting.229. I will keep Wilson around solely for his potential, but this team is going nowhere when you have absolutely no pop on the bench. It is one big dead spot and when my stars need rest, its essentially an automatic L.
Trading for Mayo was huge since this allows Morel to shift to more of a Swiss Army Knife type of role off the bench, but it’s clear now that my biggest focus at the deadline is to build up a veteran presence of backups. After a series of low to mid-level trades, I was able to cheaply upgrade the aforementioned weak spots by snagging Akil Baddoo and David Hamilton
I was very happy with how this deadline ended up and I was ready to fix the lineups and simulate to the end.
BUT WAIT.
I was finished making trades, but the computer was not. Once I tried to simulate again, I received a quick notification of a trade offer. The Tigers wanted a low-level pitching prospect in Ryan Cusick in exchange for BUBBA CHANDLER.
I instantly accepted the deal and then did my research, which is always the proper process, right? Bubba Chandler was the top Pirates prospect entering 2025 and he was all set to join Paul Skenes in the big leagues and form a fierce two-headed monster. I even mentioned him in the first blog of this series as a key piece that would warm me up to the idea of managing the Pirates. Well, it seems that the Pirates called him up, saw him pitch to a 2.14 ERA in 42 innings and then made a stunning decision to trade him to Detroit. Like I said, the computer trades have been bonkers. Makes no sense.
He has been disappointing thus far in 2026 as he has pitched to a 6.87 ERA in Motor City, so I guess that is enough for them to just dump him off. This is a top moment in my franchise series here as my future continues to shift dramatically.
I feel we can finish 2026 strong, but I am growing more and more confident that 2027 will be a massive year. Now that the deadline has finally come and gone, we can now simulate to the end of the season and see how things end up.
September 1st came along, and the simulation stopped. Out of curiosity, I checked the standings real quick to see that we were still 7 games behind Texas with an encouraging 76-61. It seems like we will be over .500 at the very least. Let’s keep the simulation going and get to the end of the season.
It is now October, and…
WE HAVE MADE THE PLAYOFFS.
A monster second half has propelled this team a 93-69 record thanks in part to an improbable 9 game winning streak in mid-September and winning a crucial series against the first place Rangers later that month. Despite the 93-win season, we still finished in third place and made it into the postseason via the second Wild Card slot.
The Wild Card round runs through who else but the Texas Rangers, whose late season collapse took them down to second place in the division and first in the Wild Card. Game 1 was won by a massive 8 inning push by the face of the franchise, Shane McClanahan, who only gave up one run. The game was locked up by an Evan Carter two run home run, and that is why I traded for him in year 1. He was not great in the regular season, but he is built for October.
Game 2 was an extra inning thriller in which Mason Miller blew the save but was bailed out by his offense in the 11th inning. You are hearing this correctly…THE A’S HAVE WON A PLAYOFF SERIES.
DOWN GOES TEXAS. DOWN GOES TEXAS.
After chasing them for a full season, the Montreal A’s have eliminated their division rival in the Wild Card round and proceed to the ALDS in Minnesota.
Game 1 went in favor of Montreal as Shane McClanahan again flexed his strength to the tune of 8 shutout innings while Evan Carter again clubbed out the game winning homer. Déjà vu?
Game two was another win for Bubba Chandler and the ALCS can now be sniffed. We are so close. We came back home for two games and lost both, including a game 4 shellacking in our home park as we lost 14-0. Thank you, Jeffrey Springs.
Game 5 is now a winner take all event and it occurs in Minnesota. The only strategy I have for this game is “Get the ball to Shane McClanahan.”
In Game 5 of the ALDS, I called upon my ace to again deliver for us. He has pitched 16 innings in two games while only allowing 1 run thus far, so he needed to be the guy again…and he was.
Game 5 was just another day at the park for Shane as he tossed 7 innings of 1-run baseball. Home runs by Coby Mayo and Jacob Wilson padded enough of a lead for Mason Miller to close the door and send the A’s to the ALCS!
This is becoming quite the Cinderella run now as we continue to power our way through the playoff bracket. Next up, we have another division rival in the first place Seattle Mariners.
The ALCS started off on a sour note, however, as we quickly fell behind 2-0 in the series after two bad losses in Seattle. Luis Severino and Bubba Chandler let me down with poor performances, but luckily, I have an angel sent from heaven on my pitching staff in the form of Shane McClanahan, who was back up on the mound again in Game 3. His unbelievable postseason run continued with another 8-shutout innings at home en route to a clutch 3-1 victory.
Game 4 went our way as well as we were able to win 2-0 and tie the series up at 2. Unfortunately, the magic would soon run out as we lost the following two games. We were eliminated in game 6 in Seattle. Shane was all ready for Game 7 and so was I, but it was just not in the cards for us this year.
What. A. Season.
From last place in 2025 to an ALCS appearance in 2026. The mid-season additions were clearly great for me in the later part of the season, but let’s look at the key performers on this magical team.
Regular Season Notables:
Shane McClanahan – 13-5, 192.1 IP, 173 K, 3.79 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 21 QS
Joey Estes – 12-9, 167 IP, 2.58 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 16 QS
Mason Miller – 62 IP, 66 K, 2.02 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 43 Saves
Zach Jackson – 86 innings, 85 K, 2.71 ERA, 1.11 WHIP
Jac Caglianone – 30 HR, 79 RBI, .243 Avg – WON ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Gleyber Torres – 28 HR, 96 RBI, 10 SB, .269 Avg
Xavier Edwards – 3 HR, 35 RBI, 43 SB, .304 Avg
Brent Rooker – 44 HR, 135 RBI, 12 SB, .299 – WON MVP
Lawrence Butler – 24 HR, 73 RBI, 22 SB
Playoffs:
Evan Carter – 3 HR, 9 RBI, .286 Avg
Jac Caglianone – 2 HR, 11 RBI, .296 Avg
Shane McClanahan – 30.1 IP, 23 K, 0.59 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 4 wins. Every other starter had ERA of 5.40 or higher. He carried us. Joey Estes did not start any games.
Mason Miller – 7 IP, 9 K, 2.57 ERA, 4 Saves. Every other reliever had an ERA of 5 or higher.
This team has tasted the magic. The city of Montreal is hungry and almost saw a World Series in year 1. The offensive core is legit, and the bullpen took a massive step forward too. Brent Rooker won AL MVP, Caglianone won AL Rookie of the Year, and Shane McClanahan showed the world he is built for October, but the rest of my staff showed me it may be time to move on.
Not sure why Joey Estes was not starting any playoff games, but I guess I could have checked to make sure he did. I got lost in the moment, but it is what it is. This offseason, we will need another big-time starting pitcher. Shedding big salaries like Springs and Severino may help me in my mission to acquire a bigger and more dominant name, but more on that in the next chapter.
All I can tell you is that this team is devastated, but not broken. There is magic in the air, and it happened quicker than I expected. My goal of winning a World Series with them seems way more realistic now, and we may just be a few pieces away from going on a full-blown vengeance tour of the American League in 2027.
Let’s Go A’s.
