A's Cast - A's Talk - March 28

March 29, 2026·33 min·3 clips

The A's blow a 6-2 lead in a walk-off loss to the defending AL champion Blue Jays.

A rough start gets the whole show. Barabolt does not dress up the loss. The Athletics had a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, and that should have been enough. The bullpen becomes the obvious sore spot after surviving the night before and then failing to hold off a Toronto lineup he calls pesky for a reason. Langley's grand slam makes the missed chance sting more. Instead of closing it down, the Athletics let the defending American League champs do what Barabolt says helped carry them to the World Series: keep coming back. Then the phones open, and the callers are not treating it like one bad night. The first two losses both felt gettable, which is why the irritation lands fast. Bill pushes the bigger complaint. He hears the context, but he also sees four years of the club not quite fixing this part of the game. Barabolt gives that frustration room, then answers with the baseball version of a brake pedal. This is a young group, still learning how to win together, and still trying to deal with expectations while the organization keeps shifting around it. His point is not that everyone should shrug. It is that two games out of 162 is too early to turn a bad bullpen week into a season verdict. The pitching talk gets more useful when Dylan touching 99 gives him something real to like. He also reminds listeners that pitching is usually ahead of hitting this early, so the bats may need a little time. Toronto is not an easy measuring stick either, especially on the road against strong pitching. By the end, the show moves through baseball superstition, Nate in Sacramento, the next morning's 10:37 first pitch on NBC Sports California, and another A's Talk after the final out.

As heard by us

A rough opener becomes a direct, call-in reset for A's fans.

A's Talk opens on the sting of a 6-2 lead that turned into a walk-off loss in Toronto, and Michael Barabolt keeps that first defeat front and center.

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Why you'd press play

If you want A's Talk after a brutal loss in Toronto, start here tonight.

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