OAKLAND, Calif. — There is a field inside a field at the O.co Coliseum, where the Athletics play baseball. There is the field between the lines — and the giant expanse of a greenbelt that surrounds it.
It's like a baseball field ate another baseball field and now lays around bloated and hung over.
Oakland's backstop is 60 feet behind home plate. A straight line from second base to first base goes 90 feet, then nearly another 90 to the nearest seat. The dugouts are set so far back, they don't need protection from hitters — they're the only big-league dugouts without a fence in front of them.