A's Baseball Lands in Sacramento

“Sacramento is a baseball town." That’s an opinion that has been frequently repeated in Northern California throughout the years, yet it’s a puzzling comment because Sacramento, California had a Triple-A affiliate sporadically over the decades but never a Major League Baseball franchise.

The Sacramento Solons were once a part of the Pacific Coast League (Minor League) on and off from 1903-1976.

However, baseball returned to the Capitol city in 2000 with the advent of the River Cats which became the affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. It remained so until 2015 when their cross-bay interleague rivals, the San Francisco Giants, entered into a professional agreement with the affiliate.

The Sacramento Kings became the city's lone Major League sports franchise in 1985. Ever since, there has been a strong passion and loyalty to our NBA team that is noticed and recognized by players of past and present.

It's abundantly clear that civic pride is important to those that live and work here. The Athletics themselves saw this firsthand when they took in a Sacramento Kings game earlier this season.

Even with the Kings and the River Cats, Sacramento wasn't taken seriously as a sports city, and was famously nicknamed a "cow town" by former Lakers head coach Phil Jackson in a heated Western Conference Finals series in 2002.

Soon after, posters, cowbells and costumes alluding to the label decked the halls at the home of the Kings, ARCO Arena. The city has always embraced the underdog spirit, finding itself "second-best" to the vibrancy of San Francisco or the glamour of Los Angeles.

That reputation has changed over the years with the help of campaigns led by city officials and hard-working individuals who have poured their talents back into the community. It has paid dividends. In 2012, Sacramento was given the moniker "America's Farm-to-Fork Capital" celebrating its strong agricultural heritage and focus on sourcing local ingredients.

In 2025, the city was named California's top place to live by Forbes magazine. The article considered the city size, crime rates, diversity, cost of living, and community amenities to determine the ranking.

Now a decade later, the green and gold will return to Sacramento, the place the organization once spent developing their young talent and fostering a fan base right here in the capital city.

Although it's not our own, the fans will embrace this team with a genuine enthusiasm, packing the stands nightly and rooting for every pitch. The lights are brighter and the stakes are higher, but the history and passion for baseball here remains the same.

Sacramento is on deck and I believe now, more than ever, ready for its Major League moment.