Perhaps it’s a tie: the A’s bullpen’s historic meltdowns in May that led to a baffling 1-20 stretch for a team that has been 70-61 the rest of the season, or the pen’s consistently excellent performance in the 2nd half that ranks in the top 3 across all of MLB.
Even if the cast of characters has changed some it’s really a swap of talented-but-questionable relievers for talented-but-questionable relievers. The motley crew that is taking MLB by storm:
The A’s best reliever, Sean Newcomb, was not with
the club in May but was also thoroughly mediocre for 8 seasons prior to 2025.
Hogan Harris has stepped up beautifully and even has recorded 3 saves, but entered 2025 with a spotty track record with a BB rate over 4.00 and a K rate under 8.00.
Tyler Ferguson has been his usual self, alternating brilliant pitches with ones that miss the target by a foot or two, sometimes getting clutch outs but all adding up to a 5.02 ERA for the season — though it’s 1.69 since the All-Star break in 17 IP despite 11 BB.
Justin Sterner has put together a nice run like he did to start the season, but was a FIP nightmare in between issuing walks and serving up dingers like they were going out of style.
Elvis Alvarado has flashed a plus arm and erratic control and is very much the epitome of a “work-in-progress” with a BB rate of 4.75 and 6 HR in just 36 IP.
Michael Kelly, who had a terrific ERA and shaky peripherals in his first month, has come crashing back to earth and has arguably been one of the bullpen’s biggest weaknesses during this great run. But all he is doing is continuing to pitch like his expected stats and is now getting results to match.
Brady Basso is a recent addition who is contributing, but has thrown only 7 innings so he hasn’t been a big part of the resurgence.
Osvaldo Bido is Osvaldo Bido, throwing good stuff he has no clue where it’s landing and alternating pleasantly surprising good results with less pleasant and less surprising duds.
The only major shift in terms of proven talent is that the A’s shipped off their closer, the electric Mason Miller — and have inexplicably performed far better as a unit ever since.
Swapping the likes of Grant Holman, TJ McFarland and Jose LeClerc for Elvis Alvarado, Hogan Harris, and Michael Kelly is swapping “?” for “?” amongst relievers with something to offer and nothing to guarantee. Sure in hindsight they have been upgrades but how comfortable would you be going with the current 8 as your bullpen for a 2026 team hoping to contend?
Now there are a handful of clues as to why the A’s have excelled recently. The use of Jack Perkins, Luis Morales, and JT Ginn as high leverage multi-inning relievers helped the bullpen thrive in the weeks coming out of the All-Star break. Basso, Harris, and possibly Perkins if the A’s decide he needs to be a reliever in order to stay healthy, all offer hopes for a quality multi-inning “plus” arm.
Certainly the overall “stuff” was enhanced by dropping Holman and McFarland in favor of Alvarado and deadline acquisition Eduarniel Nuñez. Those two offer hope that if they can refine their control enough they could be legitimately effective relief arms.
But look at the current octet again and tell me if it screams “one of the very best bullpen ERAs in all of baseball”: Newcomb-Harris-Basso-Alvarado-Sterner-Kelly-Ferguson-Bido (plus Mitch Spence, a 9th reliever with roster expanding). 5 shutout innings at Fenway last night, after 12.2 IP, 1 ER in the Reds series, which followed 5.1 IP, 1 ER against the Red Sox last Wednesday. So that’s a run of 23 IP, 2 ER in the past week. Go figure.
