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Cubs Pitcher Among Those Frustrated With A's Ballpark Situation

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Mike Ostrowski | Last updated Apr 1, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The 2025 MLB season is shaping up to be an unusual one. Two clubs, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Athletics, are spending the entire season playing their home games in minor league ballparks. While the Rays' situation is only due to extensive damage to their normal home of Tropicana Field, the A's intentionally abandoned Oakland to move to a temporary home 90 minutes away.

Several players have already expressed their displeasure with having to play games in Sacramento's Sutter Health Park - including Cubs relief pitcher Ryan Brasier, who, if not for an injury, could have been one of the first major leaguers on the mound there.

"I think it’s so stupid that we have to play at a Triple-A stadium," Brasier told USA Today's Bob Nightengale. "When they have maybe not a perfectly good ballpark in Oakland, but a big-league ballpark. I would have much rather play in Oakland than Sacramento, but I guess it doesn’t really matter what we want."

Brasier previously spent time with the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers, visiting the Oakland Coliseum several times over the past seven years. While that stadium had some of its own problem, he has a point about the condition of its stand-in.

In order to prepare for the A's layover in Sacramento, Sutter Health Park received numerous upgrades, but there are still some painfully obvious differences from 28 major league parks in use this year.

The park holds around 14,000 fans; no full-time MLB stadium seats less than 34k. A new scoreboard was just installed behind a grass berm that would be outfield bleachers just about anywhere else. Both teams' clubhouses are situated in the outfield, meaning hitters won't be able to use the batting cages in between innings. The field itself will receive double its normal wear with the San Francisco Giants Triple-A team still playing there too.

Regardless, the "city-less" Athletics will call the place home for at least three years while hoping that a new ballpark in Las Vegas will be ready for 2028. The Cubs are the first opponent they are facing in Sacramento, and after an 18-3 Chicago rout yesterday, they’ll be back for game two of the series tonight at 9 pm CDT.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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