The Oakland Athletics no longer have to wonder where they will play in the next few seasons. That won't make the long goodbye any easier.
The A's responded announcing that this will be their last year in Oakland with a mixture of sadness and relief.
“At least as a player, you know where you’re going,” outfielder Seth Brown said Friday before a game against the Tigers in Detroit. “There's obviously a lot of moving parts, a lot of things that we're not privy to, so it's just been kind of a waiting game for us. Where are we going? Where will we be? So I think.” With that knowledge alone, at least we know where we're going to play next year.
Vivek Ranadivé, owner of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics, announced Thursday that the A's will temporarily relocate to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for at least three seasons. The A's move to Las Vegas after a new ballpark is built.
The River Cats, affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, will continue to play at the same facility.
Fisherman was unable to reach an agreement with Oakland city officials to extend the lease at the Oakland Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season. The A's have played in the city since 1968.
“There's a direction now that we've talked a lot about,” Oakland A's manager Mark Kotsay said. “We have time to think about what that really means from an organizational perspective, about the history we've had in Oakland, since this is the last season. There are a lot of emotions behind it.”
It will cause turmoil not only among the players and staff, but also among the members of the organization who work behind the scenes.
“At the end of the day, we know where we’re going to be in the next three seasons after the end of this year, and that in itself gives a little bit of stability,” Kotsay said. “At the same time, it’s challenging in some ways in the present to think about the finality of this organization in Oakland.”
Sacramento will be a much smaller environment to host a major league team. Ranadivé said the River Cats venue currently seats 16,000 when counting the stands, the grass behind center field and standing room only.
First baseman Ryan Noda is concerned about facilities. He hopes significant improvements will be made, similar to what the Toronto Blue Jays did at Buffalo's Triple-A facility. The Blue Jays played at Sahlen Field in Buffalo in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“New walls, new dugouts, new locker rooms – everything they needed to be a big league stadium,” said Noda, who played a few games in Sacramento as a minor leaguer. “As long as we can do something like that, it will be fine. But it will definitely be different than playing in stadiums that hold 40,000 spectators.”
Kotsay is confident the upgrades will happen.
“I know it’s going to be Major League Baseball quality,” he said. “It has to be Major League Baseball quality. I know the Players Association will make sure that happens, just like they did in Buffalo.”
The A's will have to deal with this for the rest of this season Small home crowd and disappointed fans.
“We feel sad for the fans, the die-hard fans that always come to our games, always support us, always support the guys that wear the jersey,” Noda said.
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