WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner, an Oakland native, Monday was a bittersweet day.
The Cubs are part of the first major-league series played at Sutter Heath Park, a Triple-A stadium the Athletics are calling home for at least the next three seasons as they await their permanent new park to be built in Las Vegas. They departed Oakland after 57 seasons in the Coliseum.
“I mean, I’d rather be playing in Oakland — Oakland is a special place for me,” said Hoerner, who grew up an A’s fan. “I’m really grateful I got to play there in 2023 and got to show love to a lot people there, but it’s always cool to play the A’s.
“I feel for fans in Oakland, baseball fans, sports fans in general. All three teams being gone (including the NFL’s Raiders and NBA’s Warriors) for sports fans is a hard hit to an entire community, and three teams that created a lot of joy for a lot of people. Just straight up community-wise, I think sports play a great role in a place and to have all that stripped very quickly is a really challenging thing.”
The A’s will be sharing Sutter Health Park, which seats roughly 14,000 fans, with the Rivercats, the rival San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A team. Among the ballpark upgrades: a new scoreboard was installed, grass replaced the artificial turf, both dugouts were expanded, and a weight room and coaches’ locker room were among the additions for visiting teams.
“They’ve done all they’ve done in order to make it as nice as possible, and that’s all you can really ask for,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “My main message to anyone, and myself and just how I look at it, is we’re just very fortunate to play this game, no matter when or where, no matter what the stadium is or where it may be located, doesn’t matter. It’s a major-league baseball game.”
Before the game, Hoerner anticipated a good atmosphere for the A’s home opener Monday.
“Anything that sold out is pretty cool, Hoerner said. “There’s a lot of great baseball fans in this area, played a bunch of travel ball and stuff out here. The baseball interest is going to be high, and it’s a pretty cool setting to see a lot of the best players in the world throughout the season.”
