After 56 years and four World Series titles and that “Moneyball” book about how brilliantly cheap they were, Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics are, well, no longer the Oakland Athletics.
The A’s finally made good on their decades-long threat to leave the Bay Area if they didn’t get a new stadium. The charmingly deteriorating Oakland Coliseum, nicknamed baseball’s “last dive bar,” used to have a colony of feral cats living beneath it.
The plan is that come 2028, the A’s will become the Las Vegas A’s, in a glittering new 33,000-seat stadium right on the strip.
But until then, the A’s are playing Major League Baseball in a minor league park — 14,000-seat Sutter Health Park, in Sacramento, California, about 90 miles east of Oakland.
On a June Saturday night in West Sacramento, about 8,300 people watched the A’s take on the Cleveland Guardians — 60% of Sutter Health Park’s capacity.
That’s fewer empty seats than an A’s game in Oakland Coliseum the past few years.
But a stadium with more fans isn’t necessarily a louder one. When a little boy leads the signature “Let’s go A’s” chant on the jumbotron, the crowd response is noticeably muted.
The A’s have banned the drums and vuvuzelas that were the rowdy hallmarks of the Oakland days. The vibe in Sacramento is more, “Hey look! There’s a baseball game going on… That’s nice.”
“This definitely feels like Triple AAA,” said Scott McDonald, who along with his two sons were watching the A’s warm up along the right field line. “Small, intimate, but the Coliseum was a lot [more] raucous, you know a lot more fun.”
Raised in an Oakland suburb, McDonald grew up going to the Coliseum. Like a lot of old school Bay Area fans in attendance, he felt a tinge of guilt buying a ticket.
“I swore them off, and I said I wouldn’t come once they moved,” said McDonald.
Part of the lure? McDonald’s two boys can lean over the wall and basically touch an A’s player. In a cozy minor league ballpark, there really are no bad seats.
And you don’t have to pay through the nose to avoid the nosebleeds.
“Actually tickets were pretty cheap, like $33, and we’re in the front row,” said Giovanna Magana, who used to tailgate with her family outside the Coliseum.
To start the season, ticket prices were among the most expensive in baseball. But now, the secondary market on sites like Stubhub can be very cheap.
Although if you’re expecting minor league bargains at the concession stand, you may be disappointed.
“So a house double cocktail is about $28 and regular house cocktail, just one shot, is $15,” said Magana. “I don’t remember the drinks being this expensive, or the beer.”
Some of those higher prices are for fancier beers. The beer garden near the left field pavilion now features some upscale Bay Area craft offerings.
Melissa Pighin and Chris Ryan used to spend an inning or two at the beer garden during minor league Rivercat games here. They like the upgraded selections, like Pliny the Elder.
“I do wish there was more, like, local Sacramento beers here,” said Ryan.
Ryan was born and raised in Sacramento, and considers himself a lifelong A’s fan.
Both he and Pighin are excited the team is here in their city. They just wish the A’s seemed as excited to be here too.
Before the season, the A’s announced their official name would not include the word Sacramento. Neither would the jerseys.
“It seems like they’re just using us,” said Ryan.
Lots of Sacramentans feel this way. They’re also offended by the huge Visit Vegas ad on the left field wall.
Which may be why A’s home game attendance and the buzz inside the ballpark are sagging.
Sure, the team is in last place. But Sacramento’s NBA team, the Kings, has been bad for decades and still draws raucous sellouts.
In the absence of anything that says Sacramento on it, the hottest item at the OnDeck merchandise store is the $40 T-shirt Staci Peck just bought.
A local landmark is emblazoned in green and gold on the front.
“The Tower bridge,” said Peck. “And it’s the only thing that shows the A’s colors and the A’s logos coming to Sacramento.”
The A’s have said there’s no mention of Sacramento on their merch because they want to be respectful to Sacramento. The organization doesn’t want to mislead fans into thinking this is anything but temporary.
“We recognize that there’s always more we can do, and we welcome feedback as we continue building stronger ties,” a spokesperson for the A’s wrote via email. “The support we’ve received from Sacramento has been incredible, and we remain committed to giving back to this community that has embraced us so warmly.”
Peck, though, is holding out hope for something more permanent.
“I don’t think they’re going anywhere,” said Peck. “I say, build them a stadium and move here.”
