Atmosphere for A’s-Yankees shows what’s at stake for Sacramento’s MLB bid
Saturday night’s high drama in the ninth inning will either be novelty to cherish or a preview of what could become a regular occurrence if Sacramento’s Major League Baseball expansion dreams come true.
The Athletics held a lead, but the New York Yankees’ three-time American League MVP and future Hall of Famer Aaron Judge came to the plate as the tying run with the bases loaded — and the atmosphere at Sutter Health Park was as electric as a Triple-A stadium could be while filled with 12,361 fans, many clad in Yankees pinstripes.
Judge drew a walk, one of four straight Yankees to do so with two outs in the ninth, threatening a 6-1 lead the A’s spent the first eight innings building. Relief pitcher Scott Barlow ultimately got Jazz Chisholm Jr. to ground out, and the A’s held on with a 6-4 win to snap a four-game losing streak.
The scene served as a reminder of what’s at stake for West Sacramento with the expansion bid announced this week by regional government and business leaders. The A’s are slated to finish out this season and 2027 based at Sutter Health Park before their planned move to a new ballpark in Las Vegas, meaning dramatic baseball moments like Saturday’s could be fleeting if MLB instead grants expansion to Salt Lake City, Portland, Vancouver or another western province in the coming years.
Or visits from high-profile teams like the Yankees and MVPs like Judge — or Shohei Ohtani, whose Los Angeles Dodgers come to Sacramento at the end of June — will become commonplace, with 81 regular season home games a year on the shore of the Sacramento River.
“When there’s a bunch of fans in the stands, we’re going to feed off that energy,” said A’s left fielder Tyler Soderstrom, who hit a solo home run in the sixth inning. “Yankees being here, it’s a packed house. Obviously a fun environment.”
Local officials will continue to argue Sacramento deserves a permanent Major League team on its merits. And they have a case when they point out seven media markets smaller than Sacramento have MLB teams; that the A’s are offering a trial run that could prove the region’s viability; and that West Sacramento can provide some $1 billion in public infrastructure while others could bring in nearly a $1 billion more in land deals and private investment.
Even Judge is a fan of the idea, having been born in Sacramento, raised in nearby Linden and playing for Fresno State before his Hall of Fame career with the Yankees.
He signed autographs for roughly half an hour after the final out was recorded Saturday and spoke Friday about his belief that Sacramento would be a great city for a Major League team.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty attended the first two A’s-Yankees games of the series after imploring the public to pack Sutter Health Park when he spoke at Thursday’s rally announcing the “Sacramento Pitch.” He connected with Judge by way of baseball legend Reggie Jackson, a Hall of Famer who starred with the A’s and Yankees.
The A’s first season in West Sacramento didn’t go to plan — nor did it provide much optimism regarding the idea of expansion. They lost 20 of 21 games during a rough stretch in the first half of the season that killed any momentum or possibility of a potential playoff run going into the summer. Ticket prices were too high, causing season ticket holders to complain about being unable to sell their seats, and the A’s did little to adopt Sacramento as its permanent home.
This season, the A’s appear to have learned some lessons. Saturday was another “Sacramento Saturday” in which the team wore its new gold jerseys with “Sacramento” script across the chest, which have been a popular item among fans at Sutter Health Park.
Ticket prices are down, and the A’s came into their current home stand in first place in the American League West, though the rival Seattle Mariners took over that position by sweeping the A’s earlier this week.
Saturday marked the A’s 11th sellout of the season through 27 home games after they sold out just seven of their 81 home dates in 2025.
Industry experts have said attendance at A’s games in their Triple-A ballpark will do little to sway MLB when it comes to its expansion decision. It will more likely come down to primary ownership — a billionaire, willing to pay what is expected to be billions of dollar sin expansion fees — which “Sacramento Pitch” doesn’t have yet, but continues to seek.
In the meantime, games and atmospheres like Saturday’s will be a reminder of what could be a regularity in Sacramento — or a novel memory, a blip of MLB’s stopover in California’s capital region, if an expansion teams land elsewhere.
