The Athletics are entering Year 2 of what they anticipate to be their three-year run in Sacramento with a different approach.
Oakland’s former franchise still uses its nickname, rather than its current residence, to identify itself while its new home is being constructed on the Las Vegas Strip. But it is making more of an effort to embrace the state’s capital city after a debut that saw the initial buzz about the Athletics’ arrival quickly dissipate. The Athletics finished dead last in MLB in home attendance, averaging 9,487 per home game, down from the 11,528 they averaged in their final season at the Coliseum.
FILE – Fans watch from the outfield seats during the fourth inning of a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Athletics Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sergio Estrada, File)
In addition to the patch of West Sacramento’s Tower Bridge the team wore on its sleeves last season, every Saturday home game – the 13 games have been dubbed Sacramento Saturdays – the Athletics will wear gold alternate jerseys with “Sacramento” across the front.
For the players, Opening Day will mark the debut of the “privacy area” at Sutter Health Park, a designated spot in the dugout where starting pitchers can gather without needing to go to the clubhouse, which is located beyond the outfield wall.
Here’s a look at some key series to watch this season, including the franchise’s first “home games” in Las Vegas since 1996:
April 3-5 vs. Houston Astros
After opening the season at Toronto and Atlanta, the Athletics begin their second season in Sacramento with a weekend series against the Astros. The team was 36-45 at home last season, the fourth-worst record in the majors. They were 40-41 on the road.
April 10-12 at New York Mets
After years of trading off their best players, the Athletics added two-time All-Star Jeff McNeil over the winter. The 33-year-old second baseman spent his first eight seasons at Citi Field, winning a batting title in 2022. Former A’s All-Star shortstop Marcus Semien is now with the Mets, but it won’t be much of a reunion: None of Semien’s 37 teammates from the 2020 team (his last season in Oakland) is still in the organization.
New York Mets’ Marcus Semien fouls off a pitch during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Houston Astros Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
May 5-7 at Philadelphia Phillies
This will be a homecoming series for Nick Kurtz, who received the nickname “Big Amish” last season as he bashed his way to the American League Rookie of the Year award – a nod to being 6-foot-7 and growing up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. That’s one of the oldest and largest Amish communities in the world, although Kurtz’s family is not Amish. His hometown is located about an hour and a half west of Citizens Bank Park, where Kurtz, as a kid, rooted for another massive slugging first baseman, Ryan Howard.
Athletics’ Nick Kurtz celebrates after hitting a three-run home run, his fourth home run of the game, against the Houston Astros during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 25, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
It’s also the franchise’s first visit to its original home since leaving Oakland. The A’s played in Philadelphia from 1901 until 1954 – two years less than their run in the East Bay – before moving to Kansas City.
May 15-17 vs. the Giants
The former Bay Bridge Series rivals will mark the second anniversary of the I-80 Series for a weekend series in the shadow of the Tower Bridge. The teams meet again in late June for three midweek games in San Francisco. The series (not counting the A’s sweep in the 1989 World Series) is tied at 77-77. The Athletics were 1-5 against the Giants last season, but the win came at Sutter Health Park, which they share with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.
June 8-14 vs. Milwaukee and Colorado in Las Vegas
Construction for the Athletics’ state-of-the-art stadium on The Strip isn’t expected to be completed until 2028, but Vegas fans will get their first regular-season look at their future team for the first time since it left Oakland. But the six games – the first part of a 13-game, two-city homestand – will not be the first regular-season home games the A’s have played in Vegas. They were the “home” team for six games – complete with Elvis impersonators – to open the 1996 season while Mount Davis was being constructed at the Coliseum to accommodate the return of the Raiders from L.A. The A’s went 2-4 at Cashman Field, which is now used primarily as a soccer venue after Las Vegas Ballpark opened in 2019.
Nick Kurtz #16 of the Athletics warms up before a spring training game against the Los Angeles Angels at Las Vegas Ballpark on March 08, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Athletics defeated the Angels 7-4. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
June 29-July 1 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Athletics had to boost their payroll to more than $100 million before last season ended to remain in compliance with MLB and continue to receive revenue-sharing benefits, but this is very much a series of the Haves vs. the Have Nots. The two-time defending World Series champs, led by Shohei Ohtani and 12 other former All-Stars, are expected to field a team with a league-leading payroll of about $413 million (for luxury-tax purposes. With deferments, the total is closer to $250 million.) The Athletics’ projected payroll heading into spring training was about $77 million.
Sept. 7-13 vs. Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners
The Athletics haven’t sniffed the playoffs since 2021, but last season they flirted with .500 – no small accomplishment for a team that has averaged 98 losses over the past four years – and appear headed for an upswing. If that’s the case, a visit by the defending American League champions and the defending AL West champs will be an interesting litmus test. An Athletics Hall of Fame Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, the 12th, at Sutter Health Park.
Sept. 15-17 at Tampa Bay Rays
The Athletics get their first look at restored Tropicana Field. Last season, the Rays, like the Athletics, played in a minor league stadium after damage caused by Hurricane Milton forced them to play at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees’ spring training and Single-A complex. But they are back in their domed home for ‘26.
Sept. 22-27 vs. Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros
The final regular-season games in Sacramento are against a pair of division rivals. Will they serve as a tune-up for the Athletics’ first playoff appearance since 2020?
ATHLETICS 2026 SCHEDULE
