The Athletics are six games out of first place in the American League West.
Not bad for a team pegged at an over/under of 74.5 wins while playing half of its games in a minor league stadium. The homeless A’s are squatting at Sutter Health Park, sharing space with the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. That park is now expected to host close to 160 games in 2025.
Between holding press conferences in a glorified toolshed and getting roasted weekly by opposing broadcasts, it’s hard to believe Major League Baseball signed off on any of this. The Rays are playing in a minor league stadium because they have to. The roof blew off Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton.
The A’s? They’re doing it by choice.
And since MLB won’t say a word, opposing announcers are starting to do the talking for them.
On Monday, Angels broadcasters Wayne Randazzo and Mark Gubicza opened the broadcast by discussing the playing surface. They mentioned that the dimensions are standard, but the wind plays a big role, especially on balls hit down the line. According to Randazzo, team officials think that once summer kicks in and the weather heats up, the ball is going to fly even more.
Not exactly great news for a pitching staff that ranks No. 28 in ERA when the A’s are at “home.”
Gubicza had questions about the infield dirt, saying it plays fast because there’s basically a game on that field every day. That’s what happens when you share a park with a Triple-A team and try to pass it off as big league.
The A’s dropped to 8-14 in West Sacramento after Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Angels. The club’s pitchers now have a home ERA of 5.73, down from 5.81. In contrast, on the road this season, the A’s are an above .500 ball club (14-12) that still maintains a high ERA (4.53). The pitching hasn’t been great anywhere this season, but especially not at a minor league ballpark that plays like a launching pad.
It also plays like it’s March in Arizona.
“It feels like a spring training game,” Gubicza quipped.
“It’s major league baseball, it’s big league baseball,” Randazzo added. “You want to feel major and big when you’re in the ballpark. And you do in every major league stadium you go into. It feels decidedly different here at a minor league ballpark, no question.”
“It feels like a spring training game…it’s Major League Baseball, it’s big league baseball, and you wanna feel Major and big…it feels decidedly different.”
… “and it’s still hard to believe they’re not playing in Oakland anymore.” -Angels Broadcast pic.twitter.com/rjy5WmSaOB
— Last Dive Bar 🏟 (@LastDiveBar) May 20, 2025
Neither broadcaster could believe the A’s are no longer in Oakland. But at least they stopped short of calling them the “Oaklamento A’s,” as the Giants’ booth did.
The Angels’ booth didn’t go for the jugular, but they didn’t necessarily hold back either. But also, why should they? They said what everyone else has been tiptoeing around, really, besides the Mets announcers. It’s not a Major League setup. It doesn’t look like one. It doesn’t feel like one. And it sure doesn’t play like one.
And when that doubt creeps in, that’s on MLB. It was never about whether the dimensions matched; it’s about the optics, the environment, and the conditions. The A’s didn’t get forced into this like the Rays. They chose it. And now, opposing announcers are left trying to make sense of a situation that makes none.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.