A’s share start times for West Sacramento home games — and a record number are at night. Why?
The A’s and Major League Baseball on Thursday announced starting times for Athletics games in West Sacramento next season and will have the majority of their games at night to account for the heat in the summer months.
The team announced on X, formerly Twitter, 60 of its 81 home games will begin at 7:05 p.m at Sutter Health Park. The post said 60 is tied for the most night games in a season in franchise history.
Additionally, 11 of the 21 scheduled day games will be played in April or May before temperatures begin to soar in June through September.
The A’s have four day games each in April and May, two in June, one in July, three in August, and four in September. Eighteen of their 21 day games are on getaway days.
The San Francisco Giants’ lone trip to West Sacramento in 2025 will be July 4-6, and each game will be played at night. The Giants return home July 7 to host the Philadelphia Phillies and will likely bus back to San Francisco.
Sacramento had one of its hottest summers on record in 2024. July had the most 100-, 105- and 110-degree days since records have been kept, according to the National Weather Service.
The A’s, MLB and MLB Players Association have put the heat in the forefront of their planning for the team’s move to West Sacramento next season. After initially planning to use synthetic turf, the sides agreed to use a natural grass field because it will be far cooler in hot months of the summer.
It was initially believed a synthetic surface would be better to account for the wear and tear of the A’s and Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, the minor league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, sharing the stadium and combining to play 156 regular season games there.
But the league and MLBPA canvassed an independent playing field consultant, who determined a natural grass surface could be used before a final decision was made in early October.
The schedule is in compliance with the collective bargaining agreement that was put in place in 2022 that accounts for teams traveling for games the next day at the end of a series, often called “getaway days.”
According to the CBA, when a visiting team has an off day at home the following day, or either team is traveling to another game the following day, the latest possible start time is determined by subtracting the duration of any flight longer than 2.5 hours from 7 p.m.
More simply put, teams playing in another time zone the following day, or returning home for an off day, are highly likely to have a day game before traveling. The exception to the rule is when teams are scheduled to play on Sunday Night Baseball broadcasts on ESPN, which regularly begin at 4 p.m. PST.
There are rare instances of concerts, other stadium events or player travel requests that could alter the schedule, but those occurrences require approval of all sides.
The A’s team website lists start times for some away games, as well, but times have not been released by all MLB opponents and many remain marked “TBD.” The home schedule release came a day after the end of the 2024 MLB season, which concluded Wednesday with the Dodgers defeating the Yankees in the World Series.
