Sunday BP: A’s fans deserved better

Good morning, baseball fans.

It’s time to talk about the worst news of the week. The Oakland Athletics announced earlier this week that the team will very likely be relocating to Las Vegas. Oakland’s mayor, Sheng Thao, confirmed that the team had pulled out of negotiations with the city.

With the recent relocations of the Raiders and Warriors to Las Vegas and San Francisco respectively, this is yet another blow to fans of Oakland sports teams, who are some of the most loyal, passionate fans out there. Especially A’s fans.

The very first professional baseball game I attended was an A’s vs. Yankees game at the Colliseum. My cousin spent the whole game yelling at Darryl Strawberry to the point where he turned around and flipped him off. It was a great time.

Now, I’m not saying the Colliseum was always a joy to experience. They needed a new park and needed it badly. But it was a Bay Area institution. A right of passage. The next ballpark should have had the chance to be the same. If any fanbase deserved to have a ballpark to brag about, it was Oakland fans.

Instead, they get left. Again.

I’m not the best person to discuss in depth all of the ways the A’s ownership failed their fans, though I could probably list at least a dozen of them off the top of my head. Instead, I’ll leave that to those who are mourning this loss the most, this piece by Marc Carig of The Athletic does a pretty good job of it.

There’s also this piece by Tyler Bleszinski, founder of our fellow SBNation blog, Athletic Nation, in which he expresses why he can no longer support the team.

It’s a sad moment for all of baseball. But particularly for the A’s fans, who have long endured an ownership group that seemed to resent their existence.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants close out this four-game series against the New York Mets this afternoon at 4:10 p.m. PT. It’s another national broadcast, so prepare yourself for Shadow Chat.