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When the team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics took on the Chicago Cubs March 31 at West Sacramento’s refurbished Sutter Health Park, it became official: Sacramento, at least temporarily, has hit the big leagues.

“Man, I’m so excited. I’m so looking forward to this year,” Johnny Doskow says at a March spring training game in Mesa, Arizona. Doskow, a radio voice for the A’s, is well known to Sacramento fans due to his 22 years of calling River Cats games. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m blown away that we’re going to have Major League Baseball in that ballpark.”

A new member of the Sacramento Baseball Hall of Fame, Doskow called the Sacramento River Cats games before he was hired by the A’s in 2022. Now, in what he calls a “full-circle moment,” Doskow will return to Sacramento to call the full 162-game A’s schedule for his first time.

It’s been a surreal year for the A’s — including a bittersweet goodbye to 57 years at the Oakland Coliseum last September — after A’s owner John Fisher and local officials announced that the franchise was relocating to Sacramento for the next three years while the team prepared for its planned move to Las Vegas in 2028. 

Doskow says that in the early 2000s when he was calling River Cats games, he dreamt about what it would be like if major league baseball ever came to Sacramento, thinking, “I bet people would just eat it up.” He’s part of the new iHeartRadio team broadcasting the A’s games on Talk 650 KSTE. “Just getting an opportunity to call big league baseball in the place I call my hometown is beyond anything I could have imagined.”

With the A’s sharing the intimate 14,000-capacity ballpark with the River Cats, the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, the 2025 season has been catapulted into unknown terrain — an MLB and minor league team co-occupying the same space for each teams’ full season of scheduled games. 

Since the April 4, 2024, announcement, Capital Region leaders have considered the A’s — who were the MLB affiliates of the River Cats through 2015 — as a way to showcase Sacramento on a national stage and prove that the region can support a baseball team permanently (and take advantage of the economic benefits it will bring).

“Obviously for the Sacramento region, it’s a huge opportunity, a huge benefit, and not just to put Sacramento on the Major League Baseball map,” says West Sacramento City Manager Aaron Laurel, who’s held the position for seven years. “It’s also an audition for what’s possible down the road if Sacramento is going to be considered for an expansion franchise or relocation, or whatever the case may be.”

In February, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred toured Sutter Health Park with A’s and River Cats officials, calling it “charming.” Manfred’s visit was too early, however, to see the major upgrades made to get the park to MLB standards, which will benefit the park no matter how long the A’s stay.

The upgrades, unveiled to the public during the sold-out March 23 Giants-River Cats exhibition game, are “designed to enhance the fan experience, improve game-day technology, and provide robust player amenities,” according to a statement from the team. They included replacing the park’s previous scoreboard with a state-of-the-art video experience featuring a 75 foot by 32 foot main display, located in right center field, with nearly twice the resolution. Expanded network infrastructure and stadium technology was also upgraded.

“Obviously for the Sacramento region, it’s a huge opportunity, a huge benefit, and not just to put Sacramento on the Major League Baseball map. It’s also an audition for what’s possible down the road if Sacramento is going to be considered for an expansion franchise or relocation, or whatever the case may be.” Aaron Laurel, West Sacramento City Manager

The ballpark’s grass playing surface was replaced by new natural grass turf with “cutting edge” technology that features moisture and temperature management, and will be replaced again mid-season. A two-story, state-of-the-art clubhouse features advanced training and recovery facilities, including hot and cold tubs, a cryotherapy chamber, sauna and massage rooms, mental health and wellness spa, plus an on-site doctor and X-ray abilities. A weight room and hitting tunnel was also added. Additional enhancements include expanded dugouts designed to accommodate major and minor league home and visiting teams, as well as MLB broadcast needs, new bullpen restrooms for improved convenience and a dedicated visiting team hitting tunnel. 

For fans, concessions and several premium clubs and seating spaces were upgraded. There’s a new rooftop lounge that seats 130, mobile food ordering added and improved Wi-Fi.

The addition of the A’s and the 81 large crowds they will bring (the Cats drew an average of about 5,400 fans per game in 2024), illuminates a new baseball-centric community within close distance of the now-MLB ballpark that includes bars, restaurants, housing and hotels, which has grown considerably since the former Raley Field opened in 2000.

According to the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and data sourced from CoStar, there are 5,706 total multifamily units within a 1-mile radius of Sutter Health Park, translating to an estimated total residential population of around 10,000. Within two miles (Golden 1 Center is 1.6 miles from the stadium), the number of residents jumps to 70,260.

This emerging community will now include A’s team players, coaches, employees and fans wanting to live near a major league ballpark on both sides of the river. New residents David and Lydia Zinn, for example, were living in San Francisco when they spent a few weekends in Sacramento in the early 2020s, attending River Cats games and staying at Old Sacramento’s Delta King Hotel.

When the semi-retired couple began looking for a new home, they had an interest in being near a baseball park. Already familiar with the Bridge District neighborhoods around Sutter Health Park, the couple eventually zeroed in on a condo in a new co-housing development, Washington Commons in West Sacramento, that’s just a quarter-mile from the stadium. They moved in last June.

“It’s a nice feature,” says David Zinn about living so close to a major league ballpark. He plans to attend many River Cats games and some of the less-in-demand and more affordable A’s games during the season.

Nearby businesses like the five-year-old Tree House Cafe, located adjacent to Washington Commons on West Sacramento’s 3rd Street, took advantage of the city’s Small Business Accelerator Program and converted its inside counter to a full bar, while adding live music and roofing to the outdoor patio area, among other upgrades. The establishment’s hours were increased to accommodate bigger pre- and post-game crowds, says owner Jeff “Fro” Davis.

Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, says businesses on both sides of the Sacramento River will benefit from the added fans the A’s will bring into the area, citing as one example Ernesto Delgado, who owns Sal’s Tacos in West Sacramento and Tequila Museo Mayahuel and La Cosecha in downtown Sacramento.

“I think we know people are going to be coming to everything from Drake’s: The Barn, to Old Sacramento, and other businesses,” Ault says.

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the A’s arrival, says Mike Testa, president and CEO of Visit Sacramento, but he’ll need at least a season to determine the true economic impacts. 

“I’ll have a much better answer for you come October or November, but it’s tough to put a number on it at this point,” Testa says. “We’ve looked at some of the historic numbers with the Kings, and when the River Cats have had big games against the Giants, or when they brought in the Savannah Bananas, and I can tell you it’ll be in the tens of millions of dollars.”

While the A’s finished 2024 last in the MLB in attendance at the 47,000-seat Oakland Coliseum, drawing an average of 11,386 fans per game, Sutter Health Park features a cozy 10,000 fixed seats, with another approximately 3,000-4,000 on lawn berm areas. The demand for tickets has been strong, despite its higher-than-league average price. Ticket sites like StubHub and a survey by Gametime listed Sacramento’s median ticket price at $181, the highest in baseball. Still, the team’s season ticket allotment sold out in January. The A’s, however, plan to make 250 $25-lawn seats available the day of each game, with discounts available for veterans and other groups.

“This obviously is a big baseball town, always has been,” says Mark Hedlund, while attending the San Francisco Giants fan fest at Sutter Health Park on Feb. 1. Hedlund, a Giants fan and a former KXTV Channel 10 reporter, says he will attend eight A’s games a season as part of a group ticket package. 

Sutter Health Park needed to hire about 300 employees to staff both A’s and River Cats games. Teresa Luevano, who has worked security manning the dugout areas outside both the home and visitors’ dugout for 14 years, says she’ll be working the visitors’ dugout area during every River Cats and A’s game in 2025.

“It’s going to be fun and exciting, and I’m very much looking forward to it,” Luevano said while working the San Francisco Giants fan fest at Sutter Health Park. “I can’t wait to see some of the players I’ve seen through the years, like (Cleveland Indians manager) Stephen Vogt, who we saw here on both the A’s and Giants.”

The A’s had an MLB-worst payroll in 2024 at $66.4 million, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, finishing 69-73 and in fourth place in the American League West last season. But they enjoyed an improved second half, going 39-37 after July 1.

With the team finally opening its checkbook, optimism abounds heading into the 2025 season. According to a survey conducted by MLB players, the A’s are the team “most likely to surprise” in 2025. The A’s made several significant offseason moves, starting with signing manager Mark Kotsay, who has guided the A’s since 2022, to a three-year extension. Outfielder Brent Rooker, who blossomed after joining the A’s and making the All-Star team in 2023, led the team with 39 homers in 2024, turning that into a five-year, $60 million contract, with an option for a sixth.

“I hope this (my signing) communicates that this organization and this team is a very desirable place to play right now for a lot of reasons,” Rooker said at his signing press conference on Jan. 9. “I love it here, and I’m excited for the next five years, hopefully six.”

Several other major signings include starting day pitcher Luis Severino, who received a three-year, $67 million deal, and Jeffrey Springs, who got two years and $21 million, while former Texas reliever José Leclerc received a one-year, $10 million contract. Then, late in spring training came a blockbuster — outfielder and leadoff hitter Lawrence Butler signed a seven-year, $65.5 million extension after hitting 20 home runs in 84 games in 2024. Those signings will complement an established, young group that includes All-Star closer Mason Miller, catcher Shea Langeliers, first baseman Tyler Soderstrom, outfielder JJ Bleday, rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson and second baseman Zack Gelof. 

While A’s management decided the team wouldn’t officially be called the Sacramento A’s or include Sacramento as part of its branding, players will wear a uniform sleeve patch featuring the Tower Bridge as well as the word “Sacramento” in script, in the team’s classic green and gold color scheme.

The A’s have made it clear their intention is to move to Las Vegas, announcing that the Athletics will also wear a Las Vegas patch on their sleeve for all home, road and alternate jerseys during the season. Renderings of the planned 33,000-seat, $1.75 billion stadium on the Las Vegas strip were released earlier this year, and the team plans to break ground in early June.

But the first season in Sacramento awaits, and for many fans, the move marks a new era in the history of the A’s franchise. Fans like Sacramento native Michael Marler, who was dubbed a superfan and “Road Trip Mike” in a September 2024 San Francisco Chronicle story because of the lengthy RV trips he and his friends would take to see the A’s in person.

Marler, who lives in Land Park and traveled to Arizona to catch the A’s spring training at Hohokam Park in Mesa, said, “I think it’s going to be great, something the city’s deserved and earned for a long time.”  

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