Athletics at Giants Series Preview

Back in the Bay Area for the first time since the move

The Athletics are back in the Bay Area again, across the bay from their former home in Oakland. They’re in town to visit the San Francisco Giants for a weekend series against their former regional rival. The first of three kicks off tonight and wraps up with what should be a sunny Sunday afternoon game in The Bay.

• Giants W/L record: 25-19, 3rd in NL West
• Run differential: +37
• Team OPS: .698 (16th of 30)
• Team ERA: 3.56 (8th of 30)

San Francisco has gotten off to a quick start here in 2025. After missing out on the playoffs last year for the third season in a row the team entered this season with higher expectations. Former beloved catcher Buster Posey took over the front office over the winter and along with former A’s manager Bob Melvin has seemingly changed the vibes in the Giants’ clubhouse overnight. The addition of shortstop Willy Adames and return of center fielder Jung Hoo Lee have helped extend a solid lineup that also includes former A’s third baseman Matt Chapman along with emerging young players Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald (who will miss this weekend’s series due to rib fracture), all of whom are having above-average seasons.

Their pitching has predictably been their strength. Ace righty Logan Webb is having yet another Cy Young-caliber season as he leads the team with a 2.60 ERA that ranks sixth in the National League. Former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray is having a reemergent season after a couple lost years to Tommy John surgery, and another former Cy Young winner in Justin Verlander is having a decent enough first year in San Francisco, though he is still looking for his first win with the Giants. Their bullpen has been one of if not the best in the league so far as they lead the league with a 2.68 ERA and have given up the least amount of runs as a group.

The weak spot in their rotation has been the backend as rookie righty Landen Roupp, who won a rotation spot over highly-regarded prospects Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong, has a 4.95 ERA in his first year as a big league starter while reliever-turned-starter Jordan Hicks has an inflated 6.55 ERA that could see him sent him back to the bullpen sooner than later. And official closer Ryan Walker has gone 7-for-9 in save chances but has a 6.00 ERA while former closer Camilo Doval has five saves and a miniscule 1.37 ERA in 21 games. There may be some closer controversy brewing for a Giants team that has lost five of their past six entering this series.

The A’s took a while to announce the official starting schedule for the return to San Francisco but beat writer Martin Gallegos filled us in with the plan for the Giants series a bit faster than the team:

That lines up with the regular order of the schedule. That means that left-hander JP Sears will take the ball for the Athletics’ first game back in the Bay Area since their departure from Oakland. The third-year pitcher has been far and away the team’s best and most consistent starter. In eight starts for the Green & Gold this year Sears has a 2.80 ERA in 45 innings. He’s posted a quality start in all but one of his outings and has given up less than two runs in five straight starts. Last time out he even held the Yankees’ potent offense down, surrendering just a solo home run to super human Aaron Judge. He hasn’t racked up the strikeouts at a huge clip but he’s also not hurt himself with many free passes.

Sears will kick the series off with a matchup against Giants ace Logan Webb, which looks like it might be the pitching matchup of the weekend. Webb, as stated above, is in the midst of another strong campaign in what is his seventh season as a big leaguer. He’s been among the best pitchers in the sport over the past three seasons, which includes a second-place and sixth-place finish in Cy Young voting. The A’s bats are going to be in for a tough task against the overpowering right-hander.

Saturday evening’s pitching matchup will see a veteran-versus-rookie duel between Luis Severino and Landen Roupp. The 32-year-old Severino’s first year donning the Green & Gold has been a roller coaster. While he’s allowed one or fewer runs in four of his nine starts, he’s also gotten hit hard for four or more in four starts, including getting obliterated for eight runs in his most recent outing. He’ll limp into the Saturday evening start hoping to rebound, lower his 4.70 season ERA and earn his second win of with the A’s.

The right-handed Roupp isn’t any slouch in his own right. Last season’s 12th-ranked Giants prospect won a spot in the season-opening rotation, beating out bigger names like Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong for the fifth and final spot in the starting five. That decision has yielded mixed results as he’s got a 4.95 ERA in eight starts this season, his first as a full-time starter in the bigs. The team is 4-4 in his starts and he’s been serviceable backend starter but he’ll be the worst starter the A’s face this weekend so they need to take advantage of that on Saturday to backup Severino.

Finishing the weekend series off will be left-hander Jeffrey Springs for the Athletics and future Hall-of-Famer & A’s killer Justin Verlander. The 32-year-old Springs is finally turning his season around to the point where he now has a lower ERA than Severino. He’s put together three straight quality starts that have seen him go 18 innings with just three runs allowed. That includes his best start of the year last time out when he held the Dodgers to just one run on six hits. He’s not struggling as hard to begin games anymore and that’s leading to much greater success, the type that the club envisioned when they brought him aboard over the winter.

Meanwhile the Giants’ Verlander will be making his 30th career start against the Athletics but the first in a Giants uniform. The 42-year-old has gone 17-8 with a 2.60 ERA in 186 ²⁄₃ innings against the A’s which is about a Cy Young-worthy season’s worth of pitching against just one team. It’s hard to think that he’s already in his 20th season and he’s still going. He won’t ever reach the peaks of his earlier career but he’s been adequate for the Giants this year posting a 4.31 ERA over nine starts. He’s pitched at least five innings in all but one start and has pitched at least six frames in four of his nine appearances. He’s been a workhorse for San Francisco and is coming off a six-inning, two-run performance against the Diamondbacks. This one could end up being a pitching duel.