If Sacramento gets an MLB expansion team, what should it be named? Weigh in here

Baseball excitement in Sacramento is high as the Athletics continue to play big-league games at Sutter Health Park, and momentum is growing with the seed planted of a potential new professional team in the city.

West Sacramento and Sacramento government officials and business leaders announced Thursday their official bid for a Major League Baseball expansion team, should the league select two new cities to add teams by 2029 as is predicted.

A major stadium project to support this future expansion team would backed by $800 million in land and investments, and the city’s baseball reputation could be boosted by its experience hosting the Athletics at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento before the A’s planned move to Las Vegas in 2027.

One topic the local leaders at Thursday’s team did not address: If Sacramento were to win the expansion bid, what would that team be called?

Here are some possibilities — and a chance below for Sacramento Bee readers to weigh in on their favorite potential name for a Sacramento team.

Sacramento Solons

Keeping in line with the storied baseball history of California’s capital city, the MLB team could revive the name of Sacramento’s historic minor-league team that played in the Pacific Coast League through much of the 20th century.

The Solons name refers to an ancient Greek lawmaker, whose name later became a colloquial term for wise legislators, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Sacramento Deltas

The new pro baseball team could honor the capital region’s most distinctive geographical feature, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The massive delta is revered not only for its capacious water supply and agricultural support, but also its famed Delta breeze that often brings relief from stretches of hot weather.

Referencing the Delta would also connect to the city’s existing Minor League Baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats, which alludes to the team’s aquatic neighbor flowing adjacent to Sutter Health Park: the Sacramento River.

Sacramento Bears

Though the California grizzly bear is long extinct, it remains the state’s iconic symbol, prominently displayed on its flag and cast in bronze outside the governor’s office.

Yes, bears are already represented in professional sports through the Chicago Bears of the NFL. But the San Francisco Giants and New York Giants have coexisted peacefully for decades.

Sacramento Towers

In 1936, a span called Tower Bridge provided Sacramento a new connection point to Yolo County and beyond. Shortly after the bridge’s dedication, Tower Theatre in Land Park became a primary landmark for the city’s residents to navigate Sacramento streets before the city’s contemporary growth in the late 20th and 21st centuries.

Today, both architectural marvels are historic icons of the city and remain in use. Tower Bridge was inscribed in the history books in 1982, when it was inducted into the National Register of Historic Places.

There’s a small baseball connection, as well (think of the “towering home runs” that could be hit with the Tower Bridge in the background).

Sacramento Stingers

California’s capital city has a number of prominent entities represented by flying, stinging insects. How about an alliterative addition?

The Sacramento State Hornets stick up their pinkie fingers to celebrate their sports teams in a “stingers up” pose.

And of course, for nearly 170 years, The Sacramento Bee has been the region’s flagship newspaper, symbolized by the Walt Disney designed Scoopy the bee.

Let us know in the form below what name you think would be most apt for a Sacramento MLB team.

Camila Pedrosa

The Sacramento Bee

Camila Pedrosa is the California Diversions Reporter at The Sacramento Bee. She previously worked on The Bee’s service journalism team and was a summer reporting intern for The Bee in 2024. She graduated from Arizona State University with a master’s degree in mass communication.