Ranking Every MLB The Show Franchise Mode Team: AL Edition (Part 1)

Continuing the series from last week, we’re now doing a two-part breakdown and ranking of every AL team for a franchise mode playthrough for the 2026 and beyond MLB seasons.

Part 1 and Part 2 of the NL series were fun to do, and it was similarly enjoyable getting through all of the AL as spring training baseball was playing in the background on my TV.

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If you need a quick refresher on how I’m doing the rankings, here’s the explanation once again:

It’s not just who are the “best” teams or who are expected to be the best teams. No, I’m going to factor in a variety of other things:

• How much of a challenge will it be to win - Harder isn’t always better, but usually I will consider it better.

• Home stadium - We’re playing half our games here, a good park matters

• Cornerstone players - Who are we building this team around?

• Contracts/payroll - How much payroll can the team handle and who is already paid?

• Farm system - How good or bad is the prospect pool?

• Potential storylines - What are the stories you can tell with this team?

• Market/owner - As I discussed in the “intriguing” teams list, role-playing the market and how good/bad your owner is can play a role if you want it to.

On top of that, I like to have a clear direction for my franchise team. Are we rebuilding? Is this the last hurrah before blowing it up? Is this a total teardown? The clearer the identity of the team (for better or worse), the more I like it.

We always have a “who are you planning to play as?” thread on the forums, so I want these rankings to help people out who aren’t quite sure which direction to go as of yet.

Let’s get to it and start with the 15th team on the list:

15) The Athletics

Projected O/U win total as of today: 75.5 wins

The problem with the Athletics is also a problem with MLB The Show in that we have to assume there will be no way to create a franchise/move a team, so you’re locked into a short-term stadium with a team that still has an uneasy future. When you don’t have a city attached to your name, it’s hard to make it out of last place for these sorts of rankings.

It’s a shame because the A’s have a very exciting lineup, and it’s mostly locked up as well. The AL West is also a difficult division, so your young talent still has an uphill battle ahead of it.

That dangerous lineup incliudes Kurtz, Rooker, Wilson, and Soderstrom — among others. The power is there throughout the lineup, and it’s a showcase of how the Athletics have gotten back to developing players in recent years.

On the pitching side, the Mason Miller trade was a little shocking at the trade deadline, and the pitching is the shakier area for now, but the more veteran-laden rotation still has some solid arms. Severino is the highly-paid ace, and then Springs and Civale are there as the two other vets holding things down.

The bullpen is going to be the real question mark for this team and how much they can exceed their projected win total probably comes down to finding some quality late-game innings. This will be your big job in year one while keeping an eye on the top prospects down in the minors (which are mostly on the pitching side).

Ultimately, this team would be way higher in the rankings if their future was a little more clear as a franchise — or SDS allowed us to toy around more with teams in franchise mode. Even having a bad owner can be a plus in these rankings (and the Athletics certainly have that), but unfortunately the Athletics are a victim of circumstance (again).

• How Hard to Win: 7/10 — Among the small markets, this team has more hope than most in a video game because the young core is already contributing and is locked up on longer-term deals.

• Home Stadium: 1/10 — A minor league park can be a positive in theory, but Sutter Health Park lacks character on top of being mostly boring to look at on TV.

• Cornerstone Players: Nick Kurtz (23)

• Contracts/Payroll: 92M (26th in MLB), at some point the Athletics may spend more once they’re in Vegas, but for now they’re still going to mostly play around the fringes. Severino gets paid for the next two seasons, but otherwise it’s mostly long-term deals that don’t start getting up there in price until a couple years down the line since they’re tied to pre-arb players.

• Farm System: (18th in ESPN’s latest rankings) - Leo De Vries (SS), Gage Jump (LHP), and Jamie Arnold (LHP) are Top 100 prospects. De Vries was the prize of the Mason Miller trade, and he’s a legit toolsy middle infielder who isn’t even 20. He might not stick at SS, but he’s still one of the most exciting prospects in all of baseball. After him, it’s a ton of pitching depth, and with a lot of it being left-handed, it makes it all the more fun to follow.

• Potential Storylines: It seems like the Athletics are done trading from the big league club, so can you surprise even more than you did a year ago? There’s tons of pitchers that are still rookie-eligible or coming up soon, so your job is to develop the pitching so it matches up with the hitting.

• Market/Owner: John Fisher is a vile owner.

• Wild Card(s): This team hit a lot of bombs last year, and a lot of players beat their projections, is there any regression coming on the hitting side — even if most of their young players aren’t even in their prime yet.

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