SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At 4:00 a.m., Sacramento International Airport’s Terminal B is sparsely populated, generally with people bewildered at why they thought it was a great idea to catch the 5:15 a.m. flight out of town. I am one of them. The automated announcements are just too perky. The airport Starbucks will open whenever. “Pretty open flight,” my Southwest gate agent to Las Vegas announces. I have boarding spot B-1.
Oakland’s upcoming three-city road trip against the AL East’s top teams is an early test of whether the Athletics can hang around with World Series contenders.