Thousands of Giants fans feel right at home during FanFest at A’s temporary ballpark
Robbie Ray was willing to acknowledge how unusual the situation was.
Ray, a San Francisco Giants pitcher, was on hand Saturday at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the Giants FanFest Tour. Saturday’s event, which had previous stops in San Jose and San Ramon, also included Giants players Willy Adames, Heliot Ramos and Matt Gage, as well as former manager and team adviser Dusty Baker.
Sutter Health Park served as the home of the Athletics in 2025 after the team left Oakland following the end of the previous season without a stadium ready in its future home of Las Vegas. The park, which is the permanent home of the Giants AAA-affiliate River Cats club, could remain in its major league role for two to three more years.
A 12-year Major League Baseball veteran, Ray admitted in response to a question from The Sacramento Bee that he had never attended a fan fest in an opposing team’s home ballpark. “It’s a little unorthodox but we’ll make it work,” Ray said during a media availability shortly before the event began.
It turned out to work well. Thousands of fans showed up Saturday, with a line snaking around the perimeter of the field as people waited for autographs.
The day also offered a reminder: While the A’s could be playing here for however long it takes to build a stadium in Nevada, Sacramento and the surrounding region may still be Giants country.
By the numbers
The event opened to fans at noon. Francisco Lopez, a West Sacramento police officer, estimated around 1:15 p.m. that between 8,000 and 9,000 people were on hand. The line stretched so far that not everyone had entered Sutter Health Park by that point.
On average, a comparable number of people attended each A’s home game during the 2025 season, but the atmosphere Saturday was markedly different. The team refused to put Sacramento in its name, finished last in the majors in attendance and reportedly dropped ticket prices after the season began.
Most fans at Sutter Health Park on Saturday appeared to support the Giants. There were exceptions. Rocco Razo, a 19-year-old Los Banos resident, waited in line wearing an A’s jersey for Matt Chapman, who now plays for the Giants. Sebastian Diaz, a Natomas resident and Los Angeles Dodgers fan, stood in line with his wife, Cristina Garcia, who wore Giants gear.
But for the most part, these were people decked out in Giants hats or jerseys, in some cases both. Some had traveled long distances to make the event, such as Christine Belleci, an Oakley resident. She recalled that growing up in Antioch, she would get free Athletics tickets for having straight A’s “but my heart was always with the Giants.”
In general, there was excitement in the air, including for Baker, who spoke to The Bee while he was making his way down to field level at the beginning of the event. Some of the buzz might not have even been entirely about which team was connected to the event.
“It’s the beginning of baseball,” said Baker, 76, a Granite Bay resident. “I could feel a little nervousness when I saw the people lined up.”
Some in attendance were fairly new to Giants fandom, such as Albert Hines, a Sacramento-area resident who said he’d only become a Giants fan in the past few years, due to what was going on with the A’s. Previously, he’d always been an Oakland A’s fan.
“I don’t know what the A’s are gonna do,” Hines said. “The Giants are more stable and they’re in the area.”
Matthew Cavanaugh-Lynch, a University of the Pacific student, said he went to his first baseball game at Oakland Coliseum when he was six. He didn’t offer much fondness for A’s ownership when asked what he thought about being at a Giants fan fest in an A’s ballpark.
“I think it just kind of shows that John Fisher doesn’t put the fans first,” Cavanaugh said. “He’s had time and time again to get something done Oakland. Quite honestly, he could get something done in Sacramento too, if he wants.”
So is this Giants or A’s country?
Some, like Baker, hedged their bets a little after being asked by The Bee if Sacramento was Giants or A’s country.
“It used to be Giants, but I mean, they’ve got a lot of A’s people here, too,” said Baker, who played for both franchises before embarking on his managerial career.
Pat Ecker, a Shingle Springs resident, said this was “of course” A’s country. Asked why, Ecker replied, “Well, because it’s their ballpark.”
Some weren’t sure whether the A’s or Giants reigned supreme in the hearts of Sacramento fans, such as local resident Nathan Calixto who called Northern California “kind of a battleground.”
Others, however, such as Baker’s longtime friend Mike Homen, thought that Sacramento favored the Giants or their Triple-A affiliate, the Sacramento River Cats.
“To me, the A’s, it’s kind of weird being here,” Homen said.
Ray drew laughs when he told a crowd of reporters, in response to a question by The Bee, that this was Giants country.
The 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner later acknowledged the situation was more complicated. He referenced fellow Giants pitcher Logan Webb, who grew up an A’s fan in Rocklin. Ray said the capital region may currently have more A’s fans.
“But when the A’s move to Vegas,” Ray added, “It’s just natural that this is going to be Giants country.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 4:19 PM.
