Yeah, that headline is not a typo for this Friday Funday column. We visited Wrigley Field for the first time ever this week to see the homeless Athletics take on the Chicago Cubs. After the A’s won on Tuesday night and Wednesday night by one run each time, the artist formerly known as the Oakland Athletics took a 6-1 lead on Thursday night heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Things looked good for the A’s to complete a sweep, but—as we wrote about last week—the bullpen spectre reappeared.

And the Cubs escaped with a 7-6 victory that defied common sense, logic, and sanity: oops, the A’s did it, again.

Athletics reliever Scott Barlow gave up two hits, including a home run, right away in the bottom of the seventh without recording an out, so suddenly it was 6-3. Even though Barlow recovered to the retire the side, the psychological damage had been done as it had been done so many times before last night. He used to be a stud in Kansas City, where he posted a 2.30 ERA in 2021 and 2022 combined, to go along with a 12-7 record and 40 saves. Alas, Barlow is now four years older, and the rose has long since withered.

The A’s are his fifth MLB team in the last four seasons, as he has become a vagabond relief pitcher at age 33 now. We see the Athletics front office trying here to perhaps recapture some lost glory in Barlow, and most of his efforts have been decent, overall (3.54 ERA in 28 IP, including this Thursday evening meltdown). He just didn’t have it going at Wrigley, and it gave the Cubs new life. Oddly, Mark Leiter, Jr. pitched a scoreless eighth, despite his overall 5.13 ERA this year: ironic, of course, in this game.

And then came the bottom of the ninth. Joel Kuhnel, an age-31 reliever with a lifetime 5.51 ERA, was given the chance to end the game and earn a save. Since 2022, he had a combined 23 IP from 2023-2025 with MLB teams, as this is the kind of “closer” the A’s have tried to make headway with while trying to compete for an AL West Division title. He promptly gave up five hits and four runs while recording a single out on his own. The Cubs even did him a favor by making a dumb out on the base paths here. Fact.

Kuhnel wasn’t even on the mound at the end, though, as it was Luis Medina—career 4.97 ERA—who actually got tagged with the blown save, while Kuhnel somehow got credit for a hold because he left the game with the lead still. But Medina gave up two hits without recording an out to blow the actual save and stick Kuhnel with the loss. It was a team effort, you see? So, overall, the Cubs got a whopping seven hits in the ninth inning alone after they’d managed just four hits in the first eight innings combined. Stellar.

These are the 2026 Homeless Athletics, folks.

Admittedly, Medina’s numbers this year aren’t that bad after he missed all of last season due to injury. His 2.77 ERA, his 1.308 WHIP, and his 9.7 K/9 rate look downright amazing compared to his buddies in the bullpen this year, but Medina did not have what it took on Thursday, and the Athletics dropped yet another game they should have won this season. Somehow, the team is in second place still, just 2.5 games out of first, but as we explained last weekend, it could be up 10 games at this point if … if only.

Interestingly enough, the A’s waived Kuhnel on Friday, designating him for assignment. They ought to do the same with Manager Mark Kotsay, really, but we will save that joyful exploration for another day some time soon in the near future. We promise.