A's Rotation Off to a Hot Start in 2025

This past off-season, the A's knew their biggest weakness was their pitching rotation. So, like good clubs do, they made some changes and added some pieces to improve their starting five. The first move the club made was to give a franchise-record contract to veteran righty Luis Severino.

Following the $67 million contract handed to Severino, the A's weren't done making changes to their rotation, and added former Tampa Bay Rays southpaw Jeffrey Springs via trade. The club had to part ways with promising righty Joe Boyle in the deal, but adding a pitcher with the success that a healthy Springs has had in his career should certainly improve the A's young and inexperienced rotation.

The additions of Severino and Springs allowed the A's to push Osvaldo Bido, JP Sears, and Joey Estes back a couple of spots in the rotation. All three of those arms showed some promise at points in 2024, but would look to establish themselves as valid starters heading into the 2025 season.

Things started great for the new look rotation on Opening Day when A's ace Luis Severino tossed six innings and didn't allow a single run. Severino only allowed three hits and retired six Mariners hitters via strikeout. The A's bullpen couldn't hold onto the lead given to them from Tyler Soderstrom's multi-home run game, but the rotation showed promise.

On Friday night, Jeffrey Springs got his first start in the green and gold, where he also threw six innings of three-hit baseball, and only walked one batter. Springs also notably punched out nine hitters, and even brought a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The A's bullpen was able to hold onto a big lead and didn't give up a single run, which helped the team crush Seattle by a score of 7-0.

Osvaldo Bido took the mound for the A's on Saturday, where he got into some early trouble in the first inning, but a nice unassisted double play by Max Muncy with the bases loaded and nobody out helped Bido escape the jam. Bido finished his night with just one earned run on three hits and recorded four punchouts.

To wrap up the four game set in Seattle, JP Sears started for the team on Sunday. Sears had his fair share of ups and downs last season, but put together one of his strongest starts. Aside from one bad pitch to Mariners' star Julio Rodriguez, Sears was nearly un-hittable.

The left-hander punched out seven hitters in 6.2 innings. Because of J-Rod's home run, he allowed two earned runs, but Sears certainly impressed many with his strong start deep into the game.

Joey Estes is set to take on the Chicago Cubs for his first start of his 2025 campaign on Monday, which is going to be the team's first game at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.

Like a handful of the other A's starters, Estes is looking to establish himself as a valuable starter in the rotation, but it's going to be tough to match the starts that Severino, Springs, Bido, and Sears put together in Seattle.

It's truly amazing that just a year ago the A's rotation was losing a ton of games, but this year, the rotation is looking to help win the team meaningful games for the entirety of the 2025 season.