{"id":12928,"date":"2025-07-16T00:43:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T00:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/12928\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T00:43:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T00:43:23","slug":"after-as-exit-would-mlb-ever-expand-to-bay-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/12928\/","title":{"rendered":"After A’s exit, would MLB ever expand to Bay Area?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here<\/a> to receive regular email newsletters, including \u201cThe Dime.\u201d<\/p>\n

ATLANTA \u2013 Philadelphia\u2019s Zack Wheeler was critical of the mound. Minnesota\u2019s Carlos Correa spoke negatively about the batter\u2019s box. A\u2019s ace Luis Severino repeatedly expressed concerns with clubhouse access.<\/p>\n

Other Major League Baseball players have popped off about the inadequacies of the ballpark in West Sacramento that houses the A\u2019s, who left a major-league stadium in Oakland this season for a minor-league interim home as they prepare to relocate to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s less than ideal, to say the least,\u201d union chief Tony Clark said at the annual Baseball Writers\u2019 Association of America luncheon in advance of Tuesday night\u2019s All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

After Clark, commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the baseball writers and said that, despite the many pitfalls, the plan is to remain at Sutter Health Park through 2027. There\u2019s an option for a fourth season in 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree or four years is a long time in terms of making predictions,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cRight now, it is my expectation that they will play in Sacramento until they move to Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time since 1967, the Bay Area is a one-team market, with the Giants the lone big-league option for fans. The A\u2019s occupied the Coliseum from 1968 through 2024 before owner John Fisher pulled the team out of Oakland for a bigger payday on the Strip.<\/p>\n

Asked specifically if MLB would consider an expansion team for the Bay Area \u2014\u00a0whether it\u2019s returning to the East Bay or revisiting dialogue in San Jose, where the Giants insist they claim territorial rights \u2014\u00a0Manfred said he\u2019s not ruling out anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of expansion,\u201d he said, \u201copen book. You know what? People who want baseball should participate in the expansion process when we start that process, and I think by being wide open, with no predeterminations as to where it\u2019s going, we\u2019re going to end up with the best locations if we want to expand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manfred and Fisher had tumultuous relationships with East Bay politicians over the future of the franchise, including with Fisher\u2019s long-shot proposal to build at Howard Terminal. Manfred suggested those relationships wouldn\u2019t damper future discussions in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u00a0had a great relationship with Libby Schaaf,\u201d Manfred said of the former Oakland mayor. \u201cI had worked very hard with her to try to make it work in Oakland. I don\u2019t have any problem with any government official in Oakland. I thought Mayor [Sheng] Thao was not particularly helpful when we got down to brass tacks, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to have to deal with her going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakland voters ousted Thao in a November recall election and in April elected Barbara Lee as mayor.<\/p>\n

Meantime, the A\u2019s remain in West Sacramento, where temperatures are expected to soar in the coming weeks to uncomfortable levels for players and fans, putting further stress on a field that\u2019s used by both the A\u2019s and the Triple-A River Cats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting continual feedback on Sacramento and are doing our very best to address each of those pieces of feedback in real time,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cIf I had a brand-new gleaming stadium to move them into, we would\u2019ve done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of MLB\u2019s 30 teams are in facilities not up to league standards, including the Rays, who are playing at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa \u2013 the Yankees\u2019 spring training home \u2013 because their main ballpark, Tropicana Field, was destroyed by Hurricane Milton.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne was an act of God,\u201d Clark said. \u201cOne was a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manfred sounded positive that Tropicana Field will be ready by 2026, but the A\u2019s seem determined to stick with Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs opposed to Tampa and the idea that there\u2019s going to be a move hopefully in the not-too-distance future back to a major-league park,\u201d Clark said, \u201cthis one, at least at this point, doesn\u2019t appear to be changing anytime soon. There\u2019s still a little hope that something may come to fruition before 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,2327,2329,99],"class_list":["post-12928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-oakland-athletics","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}