As the regular season nears its conclusion, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Oakland says goodbye:
After 57 years playing host to the Athletics franchise, the city of Oakland says goodbye to its beloved baseball team today as the club plays its final home game in the city. The club will move to Sacramento starting in 2025, though that stay is only temporary as they work toward construction of a new ballpark in their long-term home of Las Vegas. The club’s final few years in Oakland have been frustrating ones, as the club has slashed its budget amid a teardown that left the team to lose more than 300 games in the past three seasons.
The A’s leave Oakland on a sour note due to the team’s lackluster performance in recent years and ownership’s decision to pull out of stadium negotiations with the city in order to pivot to relocation. Even so, fans of the club can still look back fondly upon the club’s best years in the city. In all, the team brought home 21 playoff appearances, six pennants, and four World Series championships during its time in the Bay Area, including their 1972-1974 teams that accomplished the exceedingly rare feat of winning back-to-back-to-back championships. Today’s final game in Oakland, which will see the A’s pit rookie J.T. Ginn (4.40 ERA in seven appearances) against Rangers youngster Kumar Rocker (2.57 ERA in two starts), begins at 12:37pm local time.
2. Rojas nursing injury:
Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas exited last night’s win over the Padres with what he and manager Dave Roberts described to reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and Rowan Kavner of FOX Sports) as an adductor issue that he’s been dealing with for several weeks. Rojas indicated that the plan is for him to get an injection in hopes of speeding up his recovery to allow him to get into a regular season game on Sunday, a path that would allow the Dodgers to make a more informed decision on whether or not he’s healthy enough to appear in the NLDS (or, should the Padres manage to run the club down for the NL West title, the NL Wild Card Series).
The 35-year-old Rojas began the season in a bench role but has emerged as L.A.’s starting shortstop, slashing a solid .283/.337/.410 to pair with his typical strong defense at the position. Tommy Edman figures to play shortstop in Rojas’ absence.
3. Orioles go for the sweep:
Both the Orioles and Yankees have clinched postseason spots, but that doesn’t mean the clubs have nothing to play for as the regular season nears its conclusion. The Orioles entered their series against the Yankees needing to win out for the remainder of the season while the Yankees lost out in order to run them down for the AL East crown. So far, they’ve taken the first two games of that series, keeping alive that long-shot possibility of Baltimore taking home its second consecutive division title. Today, the Yankees will look to finally clinch the AL East with ace Gerrit Cole (3.67 ERA in 16 starts) on the mound against Baltimore’s own ace, Corbin Burnes (2.95 ERA in 31 starts) in a game scheduled for 7:05pm local time. The winner of the AL East also earns a bye through the Wild Card round, raising the stakes of this evening’s contest even further.
Sad day in Oakland. Really have grown to root for this team and their fans. Hoping stuff falls through and they come back to Oakland where they belong.
That won’t happen. If Vegas falls through they will either stay in Sacramento (which would at least keep them in Northern California) or explore options like Utah or Nashville
Nashville is not MLB worthy.
Montreal would be better, and more justifiable.
I doubt Nashville would be an option for Oakland because it would require realignment. The people of Nashville would not want to stay up for those West Coast road games that wouldn’t finish until after midnight on a regular basis.. Although I guess it could work if you swapped Colorado and Arizona with Seattle and the Angels. One of the Wests would have all California teams with Seattle and the other would have the two Texas teams, Nashville, Colorado, and Arizona. As a Rockies fan, I’d hate losing some of the rivalries, but I honestly would miss the late starts in SF and LA
Good point hiflew and could see league realignment happening again if teams moved like you mentioned,
There could be removing the so called central division, moving teams to either the east/west.
Other options include, like u mention moving other teams around. Cardinals, Texas teams, Colorodo etc. Not like ways couldn’t make it work, even either Marlins/Rays going west.
Realignment probably wouldn’t bar a relocation to Nashville. But if Vegas falls through and Oakland doesn’t get reunited, SLC and Portland are other Western options MLB would probably try for first.
But going to Sacramento and Vegas falling through, and Lacob buying the club then razing/replacing the Coliseum is the #1 goal, right?
hiflew – MLB plans to expand to 32 teams and increase the postseason to 14 teams. So the A’s moving to the East Coast wouldn’t matter
FPG – It would matter for a few years. Much like when the Rockies and Marlins came in 1993 the NL and AL both went with 2 seven team divisions and didn’t change to the three division format until the next round of expansion in 1998.
There’s also the Vancouver, Calgary, or Edmonton markets. Each city more than big enough to support a team, they are all in the West and it gives Canada a second squad in an area that isn’t French like Montreal. Vancouver and Seattle would be natural rivalries like the Nationals and Orioles.
Taxes. See NHL
Actually the three division format started literally the following season in 1994.
The original alignments were:
AL East
Baltimore
Boston
Detroit
New York
Toronto
AL Central
Chicago
Cleveland
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minnesota
AL West
California
Oakland
Seattle
Texas
NL East
Atlanta
Florida
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
NL Central
Chicago
Cincinnati
Houston
Pittsburgh
St.Louis
NL West
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
The 1998 realignment had Tampa Bay replacing Detroit in the AL East, Detroit replacing Milwaukee in the AL Central and Milwaukee moving to the NL Central with Arizona joining the NL West
The city/county has owned the Coliseum and it’s been sold for conversion to a soccer stadium. A new owner won’t have a say in demolishing it. But yeah..it’s pretty awful underneath and outside. And I say that as a guy who just flew half way across the country to see the final game
MLB would actually like Montreal as a stepping stone to the European market. Those other places outside Vancouver are cold as hades hockey towns.
Other than the alignment of the lines on the grass, no physical changes are being made to the Coliseum. The two soccer teams, one men’s and one women’s, will only play in the Coliseum until their soccer only stadium is complete on the Malibu lot, one of the Coliseum’s parking lots. It is expected to be completed in time for the 2026 soccer season. That final game was emotional. Could have been a 55k sellout, but Fisher wouldn’t open up Mt Davis. He is a POS.
They are hockey towns, you build a retractable roof stadium they can be baseball towns too. They have the media markets needed for a professional franchise. Calgary hosted an Olympic games before and is just a few hours north of the US border. Everything in that part of Canada is ìn English so Americans in Montana or Idaho wouldn’t have a problem getting up there to see a game. They could also try Winnipeg which is almost right on the US border. No one from Minnesota or North Dakota would have a problem seeing a game in Winnipeg.
Las Vegas is almost certain to fall through seeing as how Fisher cannot obtain financing to build the ballpark and Ballys cannot build the casino due to being nearly bankrupt.
The MLBPA has not given their ok on playing in Sacramento yet and won’t until upgrades are complete with artificial turf being a big stumbling block. Fisher’s incompetence shining through on that move.
There is a good chance that the players will refuse to play at Sutter Health Park and the A’s will be without a home park.
At this point, neither Utah nor Nashville are options for 2025.
I lived there in the 90’s and the Coliseum was a dump already. I hate ownership blackmailing cities for stadiums but… That situation is untenable. Shout out to my old Bay Area buddy and diehard A’s fan Cliff. The Yankees are accepting new fans, bro.
Prior to Mount Davis, the Coliseum was a great place to see a baseball game. It wasn’t until 2007 or 2008 that the park started to deteriorate and most of that was deferred maintenance. Whether that was because of Wolff/Fisher or the Coliseum authority is a good question.
I haven’t been since 1996 but I saw a lot of the Yankees getting thrashed in that building. The bathrooms were horrible and I say that as a dude who was only taking a waz in them. That is a good sports city, it’s a shame they’re losing another team.
Here’s to hoping Oakland gets an expansion team with a real owner.
Meanwhile the NL wild card chase has been affected by Hurricane Helene making its way toward Georgia. The rest of the Mets-Braves series in Atlanta has been postponed, to be completed as a double-header Monday afternoon (9/30).
Yankees still need 1 more win for the AL East since Baltimore has clinched the season series and thus holds the tie-breaker.
Chucky: The Yankees can have the title and the momentum-killing week off.
Good. The A’s should never have left Philadelphia. They cursed themselves with having to move so many times.
I kind of wonder if in todays game if Philadelphia could support two MLB teams, same with New York if they could support three teams in such close proximity to each other
@Rsox
I’m pretty sure NYC and area could support a third MLB team.
It really ticks me off when people complain about their city having a second or third team when there are entire states which have none. Some people don’t even have a team within 150 miles of them. The league needs to work on spreading it around to everyone instead of splitting up already established fanbases. I am glad to see one of California’s 5 teams move to a state without one. I’d love to see the White Sox move to Iowa or Omaha or something because they will ALWAYS be Chicago’s #2 team. Same with the Mets in NY.
@hiflew
Agreed. The Mutts need to be moved.
@hiflew;
Spoiled here in the BWMA. On a light traffic day, OPACY is a 20 minute drive, Nats Park 40 minutes. Ridiculous and obnoxious.
And how in the heck did DC, a 2 time franchise flunky, get a 3rd shot, anyways. Ponderous and odoruous.
I’m not sure the city of Omaha has the internal infrastructure to handle a major professional franchise. See that’s really the issue, how many cities in the US have the internal infrastructure to handle a professional franchise? Can they handle the extra traffic? Do they got enough hotels to handle fans that traveled to see the game? Do they have luxury hotels for the opposing teams and rich fans to stay at? Do they have the restaurants in downtown or around the planned stadium? It’s things like that, ultimately that will give Chicago 2 teams and Omaha none.
Rsox: Obviously it’s been done in NY. But the difference between now and then is territorial rights for broadcasting money.
Population in millions:
8.1 New York
3.8 LA
2.6 Chicago
2.3 Houston
1.6 Phoenix
1.5 Philadelphia
1.5 San Antonio
I realize city population alone isn’t the only determining factor, nonetheless, Houston would be a better place for a second team then Philly. Given Texas’s total size and overall population gains, it feels like there should be a third team somewhere in Texas.
San Antonio has virtually the same population as Philly and no MLB team at all.
The population you’re siting for Philadelphia doesn’t consider the densely populated immediate suburbs of Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties, or South Jersey. You have to consider the entire metropolitan area.
As I said, there’s more then just city population
Yes, but then you compared San Antonio to Philadelphia without comparing both city’s metro areas.
Just sayin’.
Yeah San Antonio or Austin should get a team I wouldn’t mind the A’s moving there if Vegas falls through.
They should never have left Kansas City, but that dolt Charlie Finley wanted to act like a spoiled brat. His issues was attendance figures, but he never put a winning team on the field. I wouldn’t have gone to a game, either.
Never put a winning team on the field? With three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74 the A’s were easily the best team in MLB during the 70’s and one of only two teams in MLB history to win three WS in a row. The Yankees are the other. You must be new to baseball.
It’s really weird that people still give the A’s flak for leaving Philly, but you never about the same thing with the Braves leaving Boston. The Braves basically had the same movements as the A’s. Moving from the East (Boston, Philly) to a Central location (Milwaukee, Kansas City) to their modern location (Oakland, Atlanta) Is it really the 4th move that gave them the “curse.”
@hiflew
No one is forcing the Braves out of Atlanta. But, if they do, I’d support a move back to Bahstun.
Every single time I read about complaints regarding a team moving, never, ever is the Seattle Pilots mentioned, who were only in Seattle 1 y before moving. the ultimate rip off for a city was done to them. Not Charlie O, not other franchise movers, but Seattle given an expansion franchise, then allowing it to move after 1 season.
no offense to u hiflew, many on this board probably have -0- clue the old Pilots even existed.
The Pilots-to-Milwaukee move was orchestrated by Bud Selig, who was really a bit of a soulless ahhsole.
Sure did. With a dynasty in the 70s and 80s…and then the Billy Beane era. Connie Mack was a tightwad who trashed his own teams immediately after building winners. It’s quite a strong history to be honest.
I wonder when the coliseum will get demolished, will it be in a year or lay dormant for years?
Supposedly two pro Soccer teams are moving in so the Coliseum gets a stay of execution, at least for a little while
If ever a stay of execution was undeserved, it’s for that dump of a stadium.
Sad thing is, it was once a half decent stadium. Back before ‘Mount Davis’ out in center field, there was a nice view of the nearby mountain range. If they had just spent the money on up keep and sensible renovations, it might still be decent.
Rsox- probably because it would cost the city of oakland too much to tear it down. the place is what?? Nearing 60y old? Built in..’67? 68? How much use can a mutant FB/baseball stadium have? Sports franchises ceased building those 40y ago because they didn’t suit either sport very well.
AASEG is now 100% owner. They bought out the cities 50% last year, and the teams 50% (that was supposed to ensure the team didn’t move) just a couple months ago.
Those soccer teams are building a soccer-only stadium in what is known as the Malibu lot that should be completed by the beginning of their 2026 season. The reprieve for the Coliseum will be short lived.
When the Coliseum gets destroyed, the sewage clouds will be heavy that night.
Condolences to Oakland fans. Sad they are victims of a city and team ownership not working it out to keep the team there. Enough blame to go around for both sides.
I thought there was still a chance they’d still play in Oakland next year since the Sacramento ballpark isn’t really major league caliber and adding the artificial turf as they’ve planned would exacerbate the possible triple digit temperatures that could occur during games.
denistaylor: Kind of takes the “major” out of major league.
Rojas is seriously lacking wheels if he hit into a triple play!
He was literally injured. He’s been dealing with this injury for weeks. He’s not a fast runner as it is but has been slowed by this upper leg issue. It’s like you didn’t even read the stuff above?
He isn’t especially fast but he has enough speed to play excellent defense at SS. If he doesn’t show bunt on the first pitch and pull in the left side of the IF, and then hit the ball sharply right at 3B this play doesn’t happen. This play is about as likely as being struck by lightning.
@cooperhill
Rojas isn’t exactly an elite runner (15th percentile sprint speed) but that triple play took just a fraction of a second longer than a double play.
Baseball is a business. It has become a business that has huge cashflows and relies on enormous amounts of public money, public favors, publicly paid for land, infrastructure, zoning, etc. Both Oakland city leadership and Athletic ownership deserve blame. Stinks for the fans, but the power brokers, both in elected offices and boardroom suites, don’t really care about the fans. It’s all about the performative and (huge) bucks.
Oakland is in trouble as a city period, they have a lot of issues right now. Every pro sports team has abandoned that city now. What pro team will ever move to that city in the now let alone the future. Does the NFL, NBA, MLB ever see a team in Oakland don’t think so. Sports teams are having to find better deals to finance their teams, with high salaries, comes higher advertising cost, higher ticket prices, higher television cost, higher hotel and transportation cost, plus overhead of stadium rentals. So, when a city says nope you build your own ballpark, basically the city government has to look at their own costs to their constituents. That is where these other cities come in and snatch their teams up. These cities can right now afford to deal with a pro team, they have the money in their coffers, never had to deal with a pro team, will give anything the pro team wants including a great 30 yr lease on a new city built stadium, But what happens after the newness wears off, the team performs poorly, poor crowd attendance for 10 years of the 30 year lease, city is not getting their agreed upon extra dollars from that lease. The team is upset with the city, and the city is upset with the team, the fans become disenchanted, and the MLB just moves on to another city. Where does it end. That is the MLB in 2024, just move the team, as the people move out of the city.
That is the MLB of 2024 for sure.
The Warriors left 10-15 years after a complete remodel of the Coliseum indoor arena after selling out games for 20 plus years. Now they’re scraping crap off their shoes in SF
A lot of memories of the Oakland A’s and the Coliseum.
As a Mariners fan, often they were crushing defeats, walk-off winners lessened slightly by the charming sound of Kool & The Gang.
Hope for one more Celebration today, and of course hoping and praying for the collapse of Fisher’s dumb Vegas plan so he can skulk the team back and sell it to a human being.
Gotta be a reason why Oakland can’t keep sports teams. I’d rather them move and be treated like a real franchise, making money, spending payroll, and getting larger crowds, then force a stay in the same poor situation.
Just hope the fans can watch the games.
My view is that, if Oakland is a viable city for a baseball team, then it is almost guaranteed that someone will build there. If MLB opened up Nashville, SLC, or a couple of other sites, the bidding would be in the billions.
So if Oakland wants a team, and prospective owners see a fanbase, they will get a team.
As long as John Fisher owns the A’s that will never happen. The bad situation in Oakland is 100% the making of John Fisher.
Great day today at the Coliseum. Beautiful weather, as always, and a view that would’ve been even better if not for Mt. (f#€£ing) Davis. The A’s have some good young talent they’ll probably develop yet again.
A’s fans didn’t deserve this fate, and John Fisher is a complete shiece of pit. Hopefully, he’ll get his when all is said and done.
The scene in Oakland yesterday was surreal. 46,889 in attendance and 30 minutes after the last house (which was standing almost the entire game), you thought they all were there to watch them clinch a division they fiercely fought for. They were all there. Soaking in the moment. Great articles in Yahoo Sports that sum up the last two days. Cheers to the fans of Oakland!
It did have the feeling of a playoff game.
The A’s didn’t have to move and the fans there deserved better than John Fisher. He is a true POS.
You obviously have not paid attention to the situation. Every problem in Oakland is 100% on Fisher. He more than doubled the price of tickets in the last 4 years while selling off every decent player. He stopped doing maintenance on the stadium in 2006. The last time I was there this season, in the most expensive section in the park there was a folding chair because he refused to even fix the seats that broke. Threw 2 seasons before that we attended games with more than 40k fans and that was with Mt Davis closed. He backed out of 3 different deals for a new ballpark and announced 2 others knowing that in one he hadn’t even talked to the college about it and the other he knew he didn’t have permission from the league or the Giants so there was no chance to move there.
100% Fisher. 0% the fans.
And the customers (A’s fans) of the business tend to not buy the product when the owner runs the business (the A’s ) into the ground.
I’ve been attending A’s games for the past 8 years, and I’ve witnessed the downward glide path. The owner of the business is a disingenuous con artist.
You are a moron. They doubled prices while decimating the roster and completely stopping maintenence and closing concessions.
So just f right off.
I think somebody needs a hug. Get over here, you rascal!
The Haas (Levi’s) family shares some responsibility for the demise of the Oakland A’s. They literally handed over territorial rights to the Giants. Bud Selig and MLB aided this process. The Haas family, being true San Franciscans, sold the team shortly after this. My question is…Why would anyone buy a Professional Sports Franchise with limited or no territorial rights? Lew Wolfe and Fisher did. Why did MLB allow either transaction? This destroyed Oakland’s viability and chances for success. There is an underlying corruption here that needs some sunlight.
Bring the team home to Philadelphia