As the last remnant of the barnstorming era of baseball, the A’s have played a lot of places. The Philadelphia, Kansas City, Oakland, and Sacramento A’s have called a lot of parks home. Yet somehow, they are perhaps more dissatisfied with the current A’s ballpark (Sutter Health Park) than any other park they have ever had. Who could ever have imagined that moving a major league franchise to a minor league park would pose such problems?
A’s New Ballpark Makes Team Feel Minor League
A’s Ballpark Design Problems
A few weeks back during an Angels-A’s game, an A’s hitter hit a left field hit off the foul pole, where it ricocheted to the Angels left fielder, who promptly threw home to tag out the A’s runner. It should have been a ground rule double because the ball hit the foul pole, and it would have been a run for the A’s. Unfortunately, the umpires got the call wrong, and A’s manager Mark Kotsay didn’t challenge because he couldn’t see left field from the dugout. Yes, the dugout, which is supposed to be the best seat in the house, doesn’t have visibility of a huge part of the field. You can see how this would be a problem; both Kotsay and Angels commentators disliked the current A’s ballpark.
Furthermore, star free agent acquisition Luis Severino put it more bluntly: “This is just not a big league park.” He was referring to the clubhouses being in the outfield and how that design cools off pitchers, especially himself, between innings. However, he generally referred to the entire experience, which will only worsen. I’m a NorCal native and can tell you that Sacramento gets hot over the same, up to extremes, 105–110-degree heat. It gets that hot in places like Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix. However, those teams have indoor stadiums with AC. However, the A’s do not have such luxuries. The players and the fans are about to get scorched over the summer.
Amateur Hour Facilities at A’s Ballpark
Just last month, in a ridiculous metaphor that comedy writers couldn’t script, the A’s medical cart came out to take off an injured player. Then, the cart broke down in the middle of the field. It had to be pushed off by stadium staff. All the while, both teams of commentators laughed at the ineptitude of the A’s. As far as I know, I have never seen this happen to a major league team before. For most teams, this would be the height of embarrassment. For the A’s, it is just another day at the yard.
Another good example of this is the A’s press conference set up. Sutter Health Park does have a conference room, so you would think that the A’s would renovate the space to have one. That’s not what they did. Instead, they bought the cheapest shed they could find at Home Depot and squeezed every reporter into it. That’s not even an exaggeration. Team management couldn’t be bothered to spend more than the absolute minimum not to make their team look like a laughingstock.
The Last Word
Beyond all these problems, the A’s are also last in the league in total attendance. The A’s are consistently playing in front of nobody. This isn’t an insult to Sacramento fans, they show up for the Kings. It’s all on the A’s management. How could any fan even begin to care about such a poorly run team playing in a minor league stadium?
The A’s had a great fan base in Oakland. They had a legacy of championships and left it all behind for greed and gambling money. Now, they’re stuck playing in a minor league park in Sacramento for the foreseeable future. They say the plan is to move to Vegas in 2028. However, they haven’t acquired the land for the stadium, don’t have approval from the state, and haven’t even come close to beginning construction.
Main Photo Credits: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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