The A's New Home: A Mixed Bag of Firsts and Fails

The Athletics have a new temporary home at Sutter Health Park. It is a Triple-A stadium. The Athletics will call this place home for at least the next three years. They are waiting for their permanent new park to be built in Las Vegas. The Athletics left Oakland after 57 seasons at the Coliseum. The Chicago Cubs helped the Athletics open this new ballpark. Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner is from Oakland. He had mixed feelings about the move. He grew up as an A's fan. He played in Oakland in 2023. He showed love to many people there. He felt for the fans in Oakland. He knew that the loss of three major sports teams would be hard on the community. He anticipated a good atmosphere for the A's home opener. He knew that the baseball interest would be high. The Cubs won the game 18-3. They had 11 extra-base hits. Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning. Carson Kelly completed the first cycle by a Cub since 1993. Starter Ben Brown went five innings in the win. He compared it to playing in a minor-league game. There were a few notable mishaps in the new ballpark. The Cubs and A's radio broadcasts were frequently disrupted. They had WiFi issues in the press box. The game was briefly delayed in the seventh inning. A drone hovered above the warning track in left field. The A's bat boy initially grabbed the drone. He used a bat to knock it down after it tried to get out of his grip. Cubs players spotted the drone. They alerted manager Craig Counsell. He informed home plate umpire Adrian Johnson. Counsell joked about the incident. He said it was a funny and unique experience. The A's will be sharing the ballpark with the Rivercats. They are the rival San Francisco Giants' Triple-A team. The ballpark has been upgraded. A new scoreboard was installed. Grass replaced the artificial turf. Both dugouts were expanded. A weight room and coaches' locker room were added for visiting teams. The A's ballpark is the only one in the majors without connected dugouts. Players, coaches, and staff have to trek through the outfield to get to the locker rooms. The batting cages are located behind the outfield wall. Seiya Suzuki ran back between innings to get swings in. Counsell joked about the isolated dugouts. He said the Cubs might make the starting pitchers sit in the dugout for all nine innings. He thought the atmosphere was fun. He embraced and enjoyed the new baseball experience.