{"id":338238,"date":"2026-05-29T22:56:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338238\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T22:56:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:56:27","slug":"if-sacramento-gets-an-mlb-expansion-team-what-should-it-be-named-weigh-in-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338238\/","title":{"rendered":"If Sacramento gets an MLB expansion team, what should it be named? Weigh in here"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baseball excitement in Sacramento is high as the Athletics continue to play big-league games at Sutter Health Park, and momentum is growing with the seed planted of a potential new professional team in the city.<\/p>\n

West Sacramento and Sacramento government officials and business leaders announced Thursday their official bid for a Major League Baseball expansion team<\/a>, should the league select two new cities to add teams by 2029 as is predicted.<\/p>\n

A major stadium project to support this future expansion team would backed by $800 million in land and investments, and the city\u2019s baseball reputation could be boosted by its experience hosting the Athletics at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento before the A\u2019s planned move to Las Vegas in 2027.<\/p>\n

One topic the local leaders at Thursday\u2019s team did not address: If Sacramento were to win the expansion bid, what would that team be called?<\/p>\n

Here are some possibilities \u2014 and a chance below for Sacramento Bee readers to weigh in on their favorite potential name for a Sacramento team.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Solons<\/p>\n

Keeping in line with the storied baseball history of California\u2019s capital city, the MLB team could revive the name of Sacramento\u2019s historic minor-league team that played in the Pacific Coast League through much of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

The Solons name refers to an ancient Greek lawmaker, whose name later became a colloquial term for wise legislators, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.<\/p>\n

\"1955<\/p>\n

1955 Sacramento Solons spring training left-handed hitters, from left to right, Jack Tobin, Bud Sheely, Don Hunter, Pete Milne and Ronnie King.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Deltas<\/p>\n

The new pro baseball team could honor the capital region\u2019s most distinctive geographical feature, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The massive delta is revered not only for its capacious water supply and agricultural support, but also its famed Delta breeze<\/a> that often brings relief from stretches of hot weather.<\/p>\n

Referencing the Delta would also connect to the city\u2019s existing Minor League Baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats, which alludes to the team\u2019s aquatic neighbor flowing adjacent to Sutter Health Park: the Sacramento River.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Aerial view of the Delta and the islands separated (from foreground to top) by the Franks Tract, the San Joaquin River and the Sacramento River.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Bears<\/p>\n

Though the California grizzly bear is long extinct, it remains the state\u2019s iconic symbol, prominently displayed on its flag and cast in bronze outside the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Yes, bears are already represented in professional sports through the Chicago Bears of the NFL. But the San Francisco Giants and New York Giants have coexisted peacefully for decades.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Southwest plane leaves Sacramento International Airport on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021 as high winds blow an American and California flags in West Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Towers<\/p>\n

In 1936, a span called Tower Bridge<\/a> provided Sacramento a new connection point to Yolo County and beyond. Shortly after the bridge\u2019s dedication, Tower Theatre in Land Park became a primary landmark for the city\u2019s residents to navigate Sacramento streets before the city\u2019s contemporary growth in the late 20th and 21st centuries.<\/p>\n

Today, both architectural marvels are historic icons of the city and remain in use. Tower Bridge was inscribed in the history books in 1982, when it was inducted into the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a small baseball connection, as well (think of the \u201ctowering home runs\u201d that could be hit with the Tower Bridge in the background).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Sacramento River flows under the Tower Bridge as the setting sun reflects off its golden paint on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Stingers<\/p>\n

California\u2019s capital city has a number of prominent entities represented by flying, stinging insects. How about an alliterative addition?<\/p>\n

The Sacramento State Hornets stick up their pinkie fingers to celebrate their sports teams in a \u201cstingers up\u201d pose.<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento<\/p>\n

Sacramento State graduate Paul Lawrence Dunbar Banks makes the \u201cstingers up\u201d hand gesture with university President Luke Wood for a photo after the commencement ceremony at Golden 1 Center on Friday, May 17, 2024.<\/p>\n

And of course, for nearly 170 years, The Sacramento Bee has been the region\u2019s flagship newspaper, symbolized by the Walt Disney designed Scoopy the bee.<\/p>\n

Let us know in the form below what name you think would be most apt for a Sacramento MLB team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baseball excitement in Sacramento is high as the Athletics continue to play big-league games at Sutter Health Park,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[11897,3834,139517,121,2006,123,122,4983,139516,2963,427,2958],"class_list":["post-338238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-baseball-team","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-professional-team","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-bee","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-sacramento-river","tag-sacramento-solons","tag-sutter-health-park","tag-team","tag-west-sacramento"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}