With high-priced newcomer Luis Severino on the mound, the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics opens its 2025 season Thursday night in Seattle.
The Athletics are preparing for a move to a new ballpark in Las Vegas and will spend the next few seasons playing in a Triple-A stadium in Sacramento. They’ll make their home debut Monday against the Chicago Cubs, but first comes this four-game visit with the Mariners.
Severino, signed to a three-year, $67 million deal as a free agent, has spent all of his career in New York. The right-hander pitched eight seasons for the Yankees before going 11-7 with a 3.91 ERA in 31 starts for the Mets in 2024. Severino is 2-2 with a 4.24 ERA in four career starts against Seattle.
“There is pressure in New York, 100 percent, because everyone expects you to win,” Severino told the San Francisco Standard.
As for Sacramento?
“I would try to have the same mentality here,” he said. “I want everyone to know when Sevy’s on the mound, he’s winning.”
The A’s have also added veterans such as pitchers Jeffrey Springs and Jose Leclerc and infielder Gio Urshela to a promising young corps of prospects.
“This group believes in themselves,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay, whose team went 69-93 during a trying 2024 season that featured perpetual Oakland fans’ displeasure with owner John Fisher.
“The culture is starting to come together. A lot of times, it takes time when you get new guys into the group to kind of assimilate. But from what I’ve watched over the last four weeks (in spring training), they seem to all pretty much like each other.”
The A’s will be without second baseman Zack Gelof, who suffered a broken hamate bone in his right hand when he was hit by a pitch last week. Gelof underwent surgery and will open the season on the injured list.
“This changes some things with the roster,” Kotsay said. “We’re exploring the different options right now.”
Right-hander Logan Gilbert (9-12, 3.23 ERA in 2024) is set for his first Opening Day start for the Mariners.
Gilbert closed last season by taking a perfect game into the sixth inning Sept. 29 versus the A’s, against whom he is 3-1 with a 3.09 ERA in 12 career starts. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh, who hit a three-run homer in that game, reportedly agreed to a six-year, $105 million extension Tuesday, giving Mariners fans something to cheer about after a quiet offseason in which the previous biggest move was bringing back infielder Jorge Polanco.
The Mariners, who went 85-77 last season and fell just one game short of a wild-card spot, also added veteran infielders Donovan Solano and Rowdy Tellez, the latter officially added to the roster after Seattle released veteran outfielder Mitch Haniger over the weekend.
The Mariners went 11-19-2 this spring, the worst record in their 49-year history.
“Yeah, we didn’t probably win a lot of games down here like we wanted to,” said Mariners manager Dan Wilson, who is starting his first full season at the helm. “But the preparation has always been there. And I think the way that we’ve played here, especially in this last week, I think the at-bats have been good. There’s been a lot of positives throughout the whole camp. And at the end of the day, we are prepared for this season, and that’s the bottom line. That’s what we were here for.”
–Field Level Media
