The new MLB season is right around the corner, and yet all signs show that the hype for another year of Athletics baseball in West Sacramento couldn’t be lower.

In a way, it should come as no surprise then that local media coverage of the team’s time in spring training has been few and far between. While teams like the Giants see dedicated reporters on the ground in Arizona to see what the roster looks like, the effort hasn’t been replicated for the A’s. Among the four major local television outlets in Sacramento — KCRA-TV, KXTV-TV, KTXL-TV and CBS News Sacramento (KOVR-TV) — only one station, the CBS affiliate, sent someone to spring training in Arizona specifically to cover the temporary local franchise in the past six weeks. (KCRA also sent one person south, but to cover both the Giants and A’s at the same time for a day.) KXTV, the local ABC affiliate, has a story on its website about what the weather for Opening Day will look like, but shares space on a landing page with a guide to Sutter Health Park for the 2025 season.

The Sacramento Bee hasn’t provided much coverage either, with just one story over the past two weeks, and that story is more about local politics than it is about sports.

This is not to criticize any of these outlets, but to highlight just how disinterested, and disengaged, the area is from this team that was once a source of excitement. It’s not hard to see how a local fan could have seen the A’s arrival, even under dubious circumstances, as a stepping stone toward their own MLB team coming to town in the future. But now it’s clear that principal owner John Fisher simply wanted to use Sacramento as a place for his franchise to squat on the cheap before the cash cow in Sin City was ready for milking.

Whatever financial progress the team hoped to make at Sutter Health Park might not be hitting its mark. They put out a flash sale for Opening Day, and began a “No Fees Flash Sale” that runs through Wednesday and applies to any games in April and May. In case there was any question if this was about a newfound philosophy of benevolence or desperation, the available seating map of Sutter Health Park for Friday is pretty darn open as of midday Monday.

Whether Opening Day fever will ever truly be back for the Athletics may have to wait until they pack up and head to Nevada.