A's Lefty Will Start Season Finale Against Royals

It wasn't until the final out was recorded that the Athletics were ready to name their starter for Sunday's season finale against the Kansas City Royals. According to manager Mark Kotsay, it will be Brady Basso getting the ball to begin the contest.

Basso, 27, didn't make his season debut until August 27 with the Detroit Tigers in town. It wasn't until his most recent outing against the Houston Astros on September 25 that he allowed an earned run to cross the plate, either, making nine scoreless appearances to begin his season.

Now he'll be closing out the A's season and looking to leave a good impression on the coaching staff heading into 2026.

This spring, Basso had pitched in two games, totaling 4 1/3 innings of work, before he was pulled from action with a strained left shoulder. In those two outings he didn't allow a hit, walked one, and struck out four. It took him until his third outing in the big leagues to give up a hit this season, too, so he's been solid when healthy.

In his most recent appearance, he tossed 44 pitches (28 strikes) so he is built up for a few innings if he can limit his pitch count. The A's bullpen will presumably get a decent amount of work on Sunday as well.

The other option to start this game was seemingly Mitch Spence, who had made 31 appearances for the Athletics this season, including eight starts. In that time he went 3-6 with a 4.96 ERA across 81 2/3 innings, and was optioned down to Triple-A Las Vegas right before the All Star break.

He returned to the roster on September 10 and has appeared in two games since, one scoreless outing out of the bullpen in Boston where he went 3 2/3, and a start in Pittsburgh on the 21st where he was tagged for nine hits and seven runs (six earned) across 3 1/3.

Spence will likely be available in a bullpen role on Sunday.

The A's enter the final game with a 76-85 record, in fourth in the AL West, but they also finished the year with an 8-5 record against the Houston Astros on the year, including two big wins against the club as they were trying to cling to a postseason berth earlier this week. The only other team with as many wins against Houston this season was the Seattle Mariners, whom the A's went 6-7 against.

First pitch around baseball is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. (PT).