SAN FRANCISCO – At some point during his start Friday night, right-hander Logan Webb expects to hear a familiar battle cry as the San Francisco Giants begin a three-game series at Oracle Park against the now-relocated Athletics.
“You’re always going to hear ‘Let’s Go Oakland’ chants,” said the Giants ace, a Rocklin native who grew up an A’s fan. “I think that’s kind of the way it’s going to be for a while.”
The series this weekend marks the first time the A’s have returned to the Bay Area since the John Fisher-owned franchise left Oakland after 57 years after last season and moved, at least temporarily, to Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.
The A’s plan to remain at the 14,000-seat park, the home of the Giants’ Triple-A River Cats, at least until the end of the 2027 season before they relocate to Las Vegas, where drilling on the team’s planned $1.75 billion ballpark next to the famed Strip is reportedly already underway.
After leaving Oakland, the A’s made the decision to just call themselves the Athletics, with no official city affiliation, while they remain in California’s capital. The A’s jerseys have patches on the sleeves that recognize both Sacramento and Las Vegas. But their time in Oakland is a just a memory.
Patches for Rickey Henderson and the city of Sacramento are seen on the Athletics uniform before a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners Friday, March 28, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)“It’ll probably be a little odd to see, that it doesn’t say Oakland on the jersey,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin, a Bay Area native who won 853 games as the A’s manager from 2011 to 2021. “I think that’ll be the one thing that’ll probably stand out pretty quickly.
“But I expect it to be the same atmosphere here that it’s always been against them.”
A Giants spokesman said sellouts or near-sellouts are expected for all three games. There is a postgame fireworks show Friday night. A’s fans have usually make their presence felt in China Basin during regular season games, and Melvin expects more of the same this weekend.
Still, while the Giants-Athletics series will have a familiar feel at Oracle Park, the atmosphere that was created whenever the two teams played at the Coliseum will not be replicated.
While the A’s struggled to get sizeable crowds during their final few years in Oakland, largely due to that fanbase’s disdain for Fisher, the Coliseum was usually packed whenever the Giants were the visiting team.
“I do remember the atmosphere at the Coliseum. That was nice,” said Giants reliever Tyler Rogers, who pitched in the Giants’ final game in Oakland. “Being part of the Giants, when we’d go to the Coliseum, we’d play in a full Coliseum. We’re probably the only team that played in a full Coliseum.”
Last year, two of the A’s six biggest crowds at the Coliseum came in August when the Giants were the visitors. Throughout the numerous Bay Bridge Series games in Oakland, there were just as many fans wearing black and orange in the stands as there were donning green and gold, if not more.
It’ll likely be the same split when the Giants play the A’s in Sacramento in the heat of July. But instead of crowds around 30,000-40,000, it’ll be less than 15,000.
“As a Giants player, every time I played there, it was always a packed house,” Webb said. “So I got to see Oakland Coliseum packed, and that place can get real rowdy when there’s a ton of people in there.”
Oakland Athletics pitcher Grant Holman (67) pitches against the San Francisco Giants on his MLB debut in the seventh inning at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)While the Coliseum was an outdated facility for Major League Baseball, few could argue that it could be absolutely electric when it was full.
“The thing that sticks out to me, personal performance aside, was the playoffs were just an insane atmosphere,” said Giants pitcher Justin Verlander, who went 3-0 in four career playoff starts in Oakland, including decisive Game 5s in 2012 and 2013 when he was with the Detroit Tigers. “Best atmosphere I’ve ever pitched in.”
For now, the Giants, who have lost five of their last six games, are just looking to string some wins together as they enter Friday in third place in the National League West. It won’t be easy against an Athletics team that had a 22-21 record and was 14-8 on the road before its game in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
“They have a really good team, and especially some of the young hitters that they brought to the big leagues,” Melvin said of the A’s. “I’ve talked to some of the managers who have played against them. They’re a handful.”
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“It’ll feel like the Bay Bridge series, because we’re playing the A’s coming down the road,” Melvin said.
“They are going to be A’s fans here, and there’s going to be Giants fans. I expect the same excitement. Those games always hold a little bit more to them, based on the spotlight on the Bay Area teams. So, I don’t expect it to be any different here. Obviously, it’s going to be different because they’re not coming over the Bay.”
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