Exactly two months to the day since owner John Fisher confirmed this year would be the Athletics’ final season in Oakland, thousands of local sports fans will celebrate a new chapter of professional baseball in the city.
The Oakland Ballers — an independent professional baseball team created in direct response to Fisher moving the A’s to Las Vegas with MLB’s support — are set to play their inaugural home opener on Tuesday in front of a sold-out crowd. The game will take place in a West Oakland baseball stadium that looks like it’ll be renovated just in time for the season, and, in anything but a coincidence, will happen at the same time as the A’s game taking place about 7 miles away.