The Oakland Athletics arrive at Coors Field on April 4, 2025, with a 2–5 record and a playbook that’s more about survival than swagger. This is a franchise still deep in its rebuild—or whatever polite term you use for a team operating on a shoestring budget and a prayer. The early results have been predictably rocky. The A’s are struggling to string together wins, battling inconsistency at the plate, and watching far too many leads vanish into bullpen quicksand. Still, if you’re looking for silver linings, they’ve at least shown moments of fight. Unlike the Rockies, who come into this game with even less to cheer about, Oakland has been competitive in spurts and has a genuine chance to escape Denver with a win—or even a much-needed series. Offensively, the A’s have been better than the numbers might suggest. Sure, the team is only averaging about three runs per game, but they’ve managed to put pressure on opposing pitchers in key moments. Ramón Laureano and Seth Brown are the two bats to watch, with Laureano showing signs of life at the plate after a quiet start. Brent Rooker and J.J. Bleday have flashed power potential as well, but this lineup doesn’t operate on brute strength—it thrives on chaos. Small ball, aggressive baserunning, and stringing together just enough contact to flip the lineup is how the A’s claw their way into games.

That style could work to their advantage in Coors Field, where bloop singles have a funny way of turning into two-run doubles. This might not be a team built to dominate, but they’re built to disrupt—and against a Rockies pitching staff that’s shown zero ability to keep runners off base, the A’s may have found the right opponent. Pitching-wise, Oakland is still a mystery, and not the good kind. Projected starter Osvaldo Bido has struggled out of the gate, currently sitting with an ERA above 5.00 and command issues that have made for some very short outings. The A’s don’t have much margin for error, and Bido’s inability to get through the middle innings without trouble has worn out a bullpen that’s already teetering. The relief corps, anchored by arms like Dany Jiménez and Mason Miller, has been inconsistent—sometimes sharp, sometimes implosive. If Bido can give the A’s five decent innings, they might have a chance to patch the rest together. But if the long ball creeps in early, this could turn into another high-altitude headache for the Oakland staff. Defensively, the A’s are what you’d expect: gritty but error-prone. They’ve already committed multiple fielding miscues in their first seven games, and every one of them has hurt. In a park like Coors, where fly balls carry and cutoffs matter more than usual, clean execution will be essential. Still, the Athletics aren’t flying into Denver as a hopeless squad. They know the Rockies are vulnerable, and they’ve already shown they can hang around long enough to make teams sweat. If they can put together just one complete performance—something that includes timely hitting, clean fielding, and a bullpen that holds—the A’s could walk away from Coors with a series win and a little self-respect to pack in their carry-ons.