Baseball, hot dog, beer — all for $6? Here’s Sacramento area’s best ballgame deal
On Tuesday evening as the clock approached 10 p.m. and the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds smashed their 10th home run of the night, a group of rowdy fans climbed the bleachers at Bryant Field, swinging their shirts overhead and chanting to the team, fueled by countless $2 beers.
Marysville’s newest local baseball team has been working hard over the last year to create a top-notch experience for fans. High-tech upgrades to the historic ballpark, engagement with the community and game-day deals have spurred the team’s loyal fan base, according to team officials.
“It’s at its peak right now,” said Andy Gillis, a longtime fan and former bat boy for a former Marysville baseball team. “The field condition and just the play ... with these guys, it feels like you’re watching like a real pro game.”
The Freebirds’ weekday home games feature some of the best concessions deals around — Tuesday games feature general admissions tickets, hot dogs and beers each for $2 apiece, and Wednesday games offer $10 all-you-can-eat chicken wings.
“Tuesdays are generally the worst day in professional baseball to come out to a game,” said Freebirds general manager Harrison Shapiro. “We just thought it was a great promotion to get people to come out, try the experience for a very low price point. Minor-league baseball is all about being affordable, especially in comparison to going to a Giants game or an A’s game.”
Attracting a new crowd to Bryant Field
The Yuba-Sutter Freebirds launched in 2024 as part of the historic Pioneer Baseball League, an MLB partner developmental leagues. Back then, the team was based in Davis and named the Yolo High Wheelers. Players in the league all have fewer than three years of professional playing experience, and a number of them have already been called up to the majors.
Eight current and former Pioneer League players have gotten MLB contracts in the first half of 2026, including Freebirds pitcher Brock Gillis, who signed with the Washington Nationals earlier this month.
Bryant Field became the Yuba-Sutter team’s home for the 2025 season, and to better reflect its new home, the team rebranded from the High Wheelers to the Freebirds in 2026, paying homage to the Yuba-Sutter area’s population of wild chickens.
The baseball field in the heart of Marysville was built in 1937 and has hosted legendary players like Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson on its hallowed diamond. Now, the Freebirds have revitalized the historic field with updated infrastructure, new full automatic ball-strike technology and a new in-game contest that gives attendees the chance to win $1 million.
“We definitely have more work to go,” Shapiro said. “Our plan really has been to build out the experience first and really improve the product, and then let people come in and experience it ... ever since then, it’s been great so far.”
In addition to Tuesday and Wednesday discounts, fireworks shows on Fridays and a sleek updated ballpark, the Freebirds have also integrated themselves tightly within the Yuba-Sutter community. Players visit elementary schools to read to young fans, host Little League teams on the field and more.
“It’s cozy because we’re a small town,” Andy Gillis said. “Here, it just feels like you know half the people who are here ... I just love that (the team is) actually invested in our community.”
Some local families even host players who are not from the region, according to Jessie Becker, chief marketing officer of the Freebirds’ parent company, Innovation Baseball Partners.
“We have people in the community volunteer to house a player or two for the season,” Becker said. “There’s families here who have had years and successive players that they’re still in touch with.”
A wet and wild Tuesday evening
Alongside $2 tickets, beers and hotdogs, on Tuesday, evening the team debuted its brand-new Splash Zone in its game against a league-leading opponent, the Long Beach Coast. In a section of the bleachers far down the third base side, staff members and even team mascot Willy the Wild Chicken occasionally sprayed down spectators whenever the Freebirds hit a home run.
Though it was not as popular during the expected hottest hours of the game, a group of mildly intoxicated fans revitalized the space near the end of the game following a searing three-run streak in the eighth inning.
A handful of shirtless young men started chants of “Let’s go Freebirds,” and “That’s a strike,” during the top of the ninth, and they quickly developed a small army of young boys waving their shirts overhead and chanting along while parents looked on what one can only assume was their children’s favorite day of the summer so far.
Willy the Wild Chicken himself joined in the fun, swinging his own jersey alongside the revelers.
Freebirds pitcher Ryan Velasquez said after the game that the team’s fan base is his favorite part of playing in Marysville, thanks to their vested interest and devotion.
“The kids are amazing, that come here to the ballpark, they inspire you to keep going,” Velasquez said. “We’re role models to them, so we really feel that responsibility of just bringing our best to the field.”
Despite losing in the knockout round — an alternative to baseball’s usual extra innings that consists of a sudden-death home run derby — and extending their losing streak to eight games, the Freebirds are still aiming for this year’s playoffs, and the fans certainly enjoyed their night despite an 11-10 loss to Long Beach.
“I just hope that people come out here and support (local baseball) with their dollar,” said Andy Gillis, the former bat boy. “It’s really cool to have people that are eventually going to the professionals play here. We had Babe Ruth, all these big names come through this field. If then, why not now?”
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