For the first time in nearly 60 years, the Athletics on Monday played their home opener outside of Oakland, when faced the Chicago Cubs at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.
Long-time fans of the Oakland Athletics will have to drive an hour-plus up Interstate 80 or I-5 if they want to see their team play in person.
Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento is the A's new temporary home while the club waits for its new stadium to be built in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, community leaders in Sacramento are hoping that hosting the A's for the next couple of seasons will prove to Major League Baseball that their region has the infrastructure and enough interest from fans to permanently house a major sports franchise.
"I think in a lot of ways this is a dress rehearsal, the opportunity for this region to prove that we are worthy of a Major League Baseball team, and hopefully an expansion team comes our way," said Mike Testa of Visit Sacramento.
Barry Broome of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council added: "What the Athletics are doing is they're giving us a chance to prove who we are. So we're a Major League Baseball sanctioned community now. We weren't before. These ticket sales are a grade card to the ownership groups at MLB."
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All of the A's players and coaches Monday wore number 24 in honor of the late A's legend Rickey Henderson, who died in December at age 65. Fans were given the number 24 towels.
Many A's fans made the drive to Sacramento from the Bay Area. They had mixed reactions.
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"Bittersweet," said Amy O'Gorman of Lafayette. "But we're really excited they came to Sacramento for the next three years."
"It's bittersweet but I'm gonna just keep moving forward and showing support and be there for the team," said Oakland resident Jose Gonzales.
“I’m just in favor of having a different owner,” said East Bay native Dave L. “I think things would have played out different in Oakland if we had an owner that was committed to Oakland.”
As far as the Sacramento area goes, they hope to prove to major league baseball over the next few seasons that they can support a team when expansion talks start up again.
“Yes, we are trying to prove that. We would like to show everybody what we can accomplish,” said West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero.
Construction on the A’s new 33,000 seat stadium begins in June in Las Vegas. A’s management told me NBC Bay Area that they are still on schedule to begin play in Las Vegas at the start of the 2028 season.
Until then, West Sacramento will be home.
