BAY AREA RIVALRY losing attraction - Marin Independent Journal

MLB

BAY AREA RIVALRY losing attraction

Giants, A’s struggling and will play final series of season in minor park

The Giants’ Christian Koss (50) leaps out of the way as Athletics’ Max Schuemann (12) slides into second base during a game at Oracle Park in San Francisco on May 18. PHOTOS BY JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO — BAY AREA NEWS GROUP FILE

Athletics catcher Jhonny Pereda (64) tags the Giants’ Heliot Ramos (17) after getting caught in a rundown between first and second base in the eighth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on May 18.

Image

By Jerry McDonald

Bay Area News Group

The Athletics have fallen and can’t get up.

The Giants have lost touch with the Los Angeles Dodgers, their once-burgeoning National League West hopes relegated to a fringe wild card chase by the Fourth of July.

Maybe it’s fitting the two will play their final series of the season against each other in a minor league ballpark because that’s the brand of baseball the former rivals are putting on display.

The Battle of the Bay has devolved into a grim struggle for the hearts of Yolo County. In essence, the Athletics and Giants share a home in Sutter Health Park, where the A’s have taken up residence for the foreseeable future and the Giants house their Triple-A affiliate in the Sacramento River Cats.

The Athletics are 36-53, 171/2 games out of first place in the American League West and could end up with another 100-loss season, in large part due to their home base until they get the Las Vegas mess sorted out. Questions remain even after a dog-and-pony groundbreaking ceremony in Las Vegas that The Guardian reported was done with rental equipment to use as props rather than any real work on a stadium.

The A’s lost 6-5 on the road to the Tampa Bay Rays Wednesday in another minor league stadium on the opposite side of the country. At least the Rays have an excuse. They lost their regular stadium to Hurricane Milton, not benign neglect.

The Giants were 46-41 heading into Thursday night’s series road finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks, having blown a ninth-inning lead Wednesday but winning 6-5 in the 10th when Camilo Doval recovered nicely from giving up a game-tying two-run home run to Ketel Marte with a save on the line.

On June 13, the Giants were 41-29 and tied for first with the Dodgers after Logan Webb won 6-2 at Dodger Stadium. They entered Thursday night’s game nine games behind the defending world champions. They lost nine games in the standings in 19 days. Their offense has been offensive, their relievers have fallen on hard times and two young starters in Hayden Birdsong and Landen Roupp failed to get into the fifth inning against Arizona.

Can’t hit. Can’t run the bases. Can’t close games. The Giants went 5-10 in their first 15 games after the universally celebrated trade with the Boston Red Sox for Rafael Devers.

Since owner John Fisher cried uncle at the end of the 2020 season and pulled the plug on the franchise and the fan base in hopes of getting someone to give him millions of dollars for a new stadium, the A’s are 215-360. Their 2025 winning percentage of .404 is actually lower than last year’s .422, when a late season surge pushed them to 69-93.

In 2021, Fisher gave up all pretense of putting a winning team on the field -- with the added bonus of allowing the Coliseum to become a haven for feral cats and marsupials -- while raising ticket prices on a fan base that had valid reasons to stay away in droves.

This year was supposed to be different. Fisher even spread some money around to pitcher Luis Severino (three years, $67 million), outfielder Lawrence Butler (seven years, $65.5 million) and designated hitter/outfielder Brent Rooker (five years, $60 million). Manager Mark Kotsay got an extension.

Fisher actually benefitted from those signings financially in terms of staying one step ahead of the grievance procedure from the Major League Baseball Players Association for his refusal to spend, at the same time keeping the A’s in the realm of teams qualifying for revenue sharing.

With All-Star rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson (.339 batting average), Rooker (18 homers 46 RBIs), left fielder Tyler Soderstrom (14 homers, 46 RBIs), Butler (11 homers, 34 RBIs), slugging rookie first baseman Nick Kurtz (12 homers, 32 RBIs in 49 games) and catcher Shea Langeliers (12 homers, 32 RBIs), the A’s actually have some pieces in place for a solid lineup. Closer Mason Miller has had a couple of hiccups but can still throw 102 miles per hour.

But the overall pitching has been a disaster, with a 5.67 earned run average at home and 5.01 on the road. Severino is 2-9 and has given up a league-high 110 hits with a 5.09 earned run average. His home record is 0-7, his ERA 6.79. And he has a pretty good idea why.

“It feels like a spring training kind of game every time I pitch, and every time other guys pitch,” A’s pitcher Luis Severino told The Athletic. “We don’t have that at home right now. It’s not the same. It’s not the same atmosphere. We don’t have a lot of fans.”