Tag: Oakland Athletics

MLB fans debated where to put a new team amid expansion talk and they’re all wrong

There are A LOT of interesting possibilities on the table.

At the moment, the MLB stands at a nice and even 30 teams throughout the whole league. That could stand to change to at least 31 squads in the coming years.

According to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan, former Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller is heading up a group to bring an expansion MLB franchise to Salt Lake City. Miller’s group’s bid joins Nashville and Portland in lobbying efforts to get the league to add a new team into its pantheon.

The same report states there do not appear to be any immediate plans for expansion until the respective futures of the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays are settled. Both organizations have struggled with attendance while seeking new stadiums. However, commissioner Rob Manfred has previously made it known he’d like to eventually reach 32 MLB franchises.

This expansion talk raised an interesting question for fans: Where do you want the league to bring professional baseball?

While there were a lot of intriguing proposals here, they’re all wrong. All of them!

Salt Lake City? Pass.

Las Vegas? Been there, done that. (Plus, the Athletics might go there.)

Nashville? Sorry, wrong Tennessee city!

The MLB should consider adding a new expansion team first in New Orleans. I know it’s downright hot and muggy there through most of the summer months — but how is that any different from other warm-weather teams and cities?

The city already has established a passionate following for the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans. Adding baseball to the summer schedule for one of the best towns in the United States is a no-brainer. Imagine being able to go to a baseball game in New Orleans before chilling out in the French Quarter at night.

Talk about a sports night in heaven. Make it happen, MLB!

The Athletics are already being outdrawn by Triple-A games less than a week into MLB season

No one has a real reason to watch this embarrassing team in person.

We’re not even a whole week into a new MLB season, and the Oakland Athletics are already drawing embarrassing numbers for fan attendance at their home stadium. All that’s left might be a possum again taking over the press box.

Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians saw just 3,407 people fill up a stadium with over 63,000 seats to fill. Of the 13 Triple-A games that took place on Tuesday, 11 outdrew the Athletics, a professional baseball team Four doubled the Athletics’ attendance.

Meanwhile, in college baseball, seven early-week SEC games had more fans in attendance than the Athletics, who are, again, a professional baseball team.  These are flat-out embarrassing numbers to tout at the start of a season when excitement for baseball and a clean slate should arguably be at its highest.

It’s not as if you can blame fans in the Bay Area. The Athletics don’t really give them any real reason to attend games in person.

For one, Oakland as an organization has a notorious “sellers” approach any time a talented nucleus shows promise. For the other, the Athletics continually posturing for a new ballpark and location doesn’t sit well with a fanbase that would love to express loyalty … if the feeling was mutual.

These continued low attendance numbers are, in effect, already an unorganized fanbase boycott. Why show up to games if your team isn’t making any real show of wanting you to be there?

It’s only April, and a continued awkward situation for the Athletics already seems quite dire.

Umpires called the Astros’ Luis Garcia on a quirky bases-loaded balk and he was furious

Well, this umpire explanation should be interesting.

If you needed another reason to see why Major League Baseball will test robot umpires by 2024, what happened to Astros pitcher Luis Garcia against the Athletics (+1.5) on Friday night was an excellent example.

At the top of the third inning, with Houston already down a run, Garcia was caught in a bases-loaded, two-out jam with Oakland’s Chad Pinder at the plate. After Garcia delivered what he thought was a second-strike pitch, an umpire overruled the initial call with … a balk?

With the bases loaded, the quirky balk call on Garcia meant the Athletics automatically scored another run to take a 2-0 lead. Because Garcia’s typical wind-up is quite long (but usually consistent!) anyway, he was understandably furious.

The pitcher argued with several members of the umpire crew, and even manager Dusty Baker came in to dispute the ruling:

I mean, I get it. You’re trying to protect the runners. But this feels specious. Like a subjective call that an umpire is itching to make given the tense situation, instead of it being correct. Though, perhaps given Garcia’s usual wind-up, he might have been due for a balk.

MLB comes out in support of California measure to legalize online sports betting

A league-high five MLB teams are located in California.

A month after the California Democratic Party voted in opposition of the state’s online sports betting measure appearing on ballots in November, Major League Baseball is showing support for the bill.

In a statement Friday, via ESPN’s David Purdum, MLB said it’s committed to creating safe experiences for fans who wish to bet on games, and it believes Prop 27 has the safeguards necessary to create that safe online market in California.

“Proposition 27 – the only measure on California’s upcoming ballot that would authorize and regulate online sports betting – includes strong integrity provisions designed to help MLB carry out those commitments,” the statement read.

The league, which is obviously incentivized to have legal sports betting in a state where five of its franchises are located, said California has millions of MLB fans looking for alternatives to illegal offshore betting.

Californians will also be able to vote on an opposing measure to legalize sports betting only at tribal casinos and race horse tracks, and potentially other in-person venues.

[mm-video type=video id=01ga9ad2hr0ydfnh7d1d playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01ga9ad2hr0ydfnh7d1d/01ga9ad2hr0ydfnh7d1d-d7a522b847fadcdfac1ee07b5bfebd8c.jpg]

[listicle id=1949251]

An Athletics ballboy showed more effort on a foul grounder than actual A’s players this season

Get that young man a big-league contract STAT.

To say the Athletics have had a rough season would be a massive understatement.

It’s not even mid-August, and Oakland has almost lost 70 games. If that weren’t enough, they’ve got football practices upstaging their games with actual stakes and animals of the night taking hold of their perennially empty stadium.

Hmm, if only their payroll was more than the single salary of other pro athletes!

On Sunday afternoon, as Oakland took on the fellow Bay Area resident Giants (-1.5), they got upstaged yet again. This time, by a plucky hometown ball boy who would simply not let a tricky foul ball fly past his zone:

I know it’s been a while, but we could use another Henry Rowengartner in the big leagues. This young man’s even got batting gloves in his back pocket. He’s clearly ready to play now. At this rate, could the downwardly mobile A’s really say no to a ball boy making terrific efforts like that?

MLB fans had jokes after the Athletics’ Tony Kemp made an extremely unnecessary diving catch

You didn’t have to dive whatsoever, Tony!

Remember those times in Little League where you knew you could probably catch a ball standing up but dove anyway to make it look “cool”? Even if you didn’t have to, it felt incredibly satisfying to pull off at the moment in front of all your friends, right?

We’ve all been there! You know, trying to be cool.

As the Athletics took on the White Sox (-1.5) on Sunday afternoon, that’s precisely what A’s outfielder Tony Kemp seemed to want to accomplish. (Kemp, of course, is no stranger to the incredible catch.)

After Chicago’s Eloy Jiménez launched a soft shot to left field, Kemp took off to make the play and dove at the last moment. And really, as replays showed — he probably could’ve simply jogged through the catch on a routine fly-out:

I mean, come on! Kemp literally has the ball in his glove and only then fully extends and flips as if that whole routine was necessary to finish the play. Well, at least he got the out, and it still looked … kind of cool?

Broncos fans are so excited about Russell Wilson, their training camp practice had better attendance than A’s games

Excitement over Russell Wilson beats out a ball club barely trying.

Put yourself in the shoes of Broncos fans. Russell Wilson — a nine-time Pro Bowler — is their quarterback after a mega-trade in the offseason. Would you not be excited at seeing a superstar like him play in the trademark Mile High orange?

On Saturday — as Denver dives into the thick of their first training camp with their new franchise player — Broncos fans showed out in attendance in Englewood, Colorado. Officially, 7,121 (!) people came to see Wilson launch dimes to his receivers like Courtland Sutton.

Yes, the size of a small village literally went to watch practice in the heat of training camp to catch a glimpse of the guy who might take their favorite team back to the top of the AFC West.

Hmm. Those numbers seem oddly familiar with another pro sports team’s attendance. Though, in games. Not practice. (Lightbulb turns on in head) Oh my goodness, a Broncos camp practice apparently outdrew multiple Oakland Athletics games from this season:

Come on. There’s no way that’s true. I know the A’s aren’t very good, and they’ve had their stadium issues. But surely more people go to their very real games over a July football practice. Right? Never mind that the Broncos’ camp facilities aren’t necessarily designed for many people, while Oakland’s stadium can house over 63,000.

Let’s see, per the official MLB box score of the A’s 5-4 win over the Rangers on July 22 — just 6,620 people showed up to Oakland Coliseum.

Just a day earlier, in a doubleheader with the Tigers, the A’s drew 7,282 souls to their ballpark. So, they actually beat a Broncos practice (albeit barely). Yay! I knew this assertion was pure folly.

Hold on. Wait a minute.

During the A’s 5-3 win over the Blue Jays on July 5 — meaning right after a holiday — a whopping 4,486 people came to watch in Oakland. Oh.

I won’t go back and verify all 24 games (thus far) myself, but I think the point is clear. Broncos’ training camp practice is more interesting to their respective fans than actual Athletics home games are to A’s fans.

Maybe Oakland should spend more on good players, and this wouldn’t be a thing!

[mm-video type=video id=01g68qmx5ybnrfq1qpgy playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g68qmx5ybnrfq1qpgy/01g68qmx5ybnrfq1qpgy-e6ad6937436c3c4041f766276ddc3e65.jpg]

[listicle id=1864189]

Watch: Steph and Ayesha Curry throw out first pitch at A’s vs. Astros game

On Wednesday, Steph and Ayesha Curry hit the baseball diamond for the first pitch at the A’s vs. Astros game.

The Steph Curry championship tour continues to roll on.

Since winning his fourth title with the Golden State Warriors, Curry has played in a celebrity golf tournament and hosted the ESPY awards in Hollywood. On Wednesday, he hit the baseball diamond.

Alongside his wife, Ayesha, Curry took the mound to represent their family’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation before the Oakland Athletics met the Houston Astros on Wednesday at the Oakland Coliseum.

While Ayesha fired her pitch off a bounce toward the plate, Curry ripped his fastball a bit outside.

Via @JomboyMedia on Twitter:

[pickup_prop id=”17077″]

Despite Curry’s miss on the mound, the reigning NBA Finals Most Valuable Player was a good luck charm for the A’s on Wednesday. Behind home runs from Stephen Vogt and Stephen Piscotty, the A’s sealed a 4-2 victory over the Astros to complete a three-game sweep against their division rival.

 This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

[mm-video type=video id=01g7z1bh2jxmnwee8j3h playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g7z1bh2jxmnwee8j3h/01g7z1bh2jxmnwee8j3h-d2871a3e9f782d95279ca3fcf90d8e58.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=64578,64572,64563]

Kyler Murray’s new salary with the Arizona Cardinals is more than the Athletics’ active payroll

Think he made the right choice …

Just three years ago, Kyler Murray had a major decision to make. Should he pursue a career as an NFL quarterback or should he stick with the Oakland Athletics — who drafted him ninth overall in 2018 — and work his way to becoming a Major League Baseball player?

At the time, there was actual debate about the subject. NFL careers are generally shorter and take a physical toll on mobile quarterbacks. Contracts aren’t fully guaranteed like baseball contracts, but successful NFL quarterbacks are global superstars — while Bryce Harper (at No. 99) is the only MLB player in the World 100.

Football — albeit riskier — was the quicker route to fame and fortune. And for Murray, that decision paid off in just three years after being selected No. 1 by Arizona.

The Cardinals announced on Thursday that Murray agreed to a five-year extension with the team in a deal that would pay him $230.5 million ($160 million guaranteed) and an annual salary of $46.1 million.

To put that in perspective with his baseball alternative, the entire active 2022 payroll for the Oakland Athletics is $41.9 million. Had Murray chosen baseball, he’d either be making far less on a last-place team or still riding a bus in the minor-league system for baseball’s stingiest franchise. Instead, he’s a Pro Bowl quarterback making more than Oakland’s active payroll.

So, yeah, Murray officially made the right decision. Fans could not deny that this time.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hustling to first base, then hilariously chilling out in the Blue Jays’ bullpen was so relatable

“Out on the base path, the traffic starts jumping. With players like me on the job from 9-5,” — Vlad, probably.

The Blue Jays entered the 2022 season with almost impossibly high expectations. At 45-38 near the All-Star Break, Toronto is respectable but certainly not meeting any World Series aspirations.

Watch 2021 MVP runner-up Vladimir Guerrero Jr. operate these days, and it’s business as usual. Not in the sense that he doesn’t care, but more that things tend to have a way of correcting themselves in baseball. During the Blue Jays’ matchup against the Athletics (+1.5) on Wednesday afternoon, we saw the latest example of his chill attitude.

Guerrero Jr. hit a weak grounder at the top of the eighth inning. Playing to the end of the play, he hustled down the first base line. After the A’s finished the easy out, Guerrero Jr. wasted no time striding right off the field.

But not into the dugout. He went straight into the bullpen.

Absolutely hilarious. Who among us hasn’t finished a day’s work and took an immediate load off somewhere that wasn’t home?

Credit to Toronto’s relief pitchers for the sense of humor in letting Guerrero Jr. hang around freely. The Blue Jays would win the game 2-1, further validating “Vlad” being himself.