Athletics second baseman Jeff McNeil watches fireworks with his family following the Opening Day victory over the Houston Astros on at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.
JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS
jvillegas@sacbee.com
The nostalgia wore off by last summer, but the feel-good vibes remain.
The A’s settled into their temporary home in West Sacramento in the spring of 2025, adjusting to the smallest park in Major League Baseball on the fly while the ownership group eyed Nevada, where a 30,000-seat, $2 billion domed venue is in the early stages of construction in the desert.
The A’s expect to be the Las Vegas A’s for Opening Day in 2028, but this is Sacramento’s team for now. Though they’re formally just “the Athletics” with no attached geographic moniker, the goal for Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero is to have enough home sellouts and public buzz to intrigue MLB enough to consider this as a logical expansion destination. Formal bidding is expected to start later this spring.
Friday marked the A’s home opener at Sutter Health Park, the start of a three-game series against the Houston Astros. Fans decked in A’s green and gold colors poured into the 10,624-seat venue, not including the crowded berm on “Home Run Hill”, for a sun-splashed first pitch. The official box score listed paid attendance at 12,410 — the first sellout of 2025, with more reported fans than at any home game in 2025.
The A’s soaked in an 11-4 victory over an American League West rival, punctuated by a postgame fireworks show. It didn’t appear that too many went home hungry or thirsty for their first home game in six months. The concourse was jammed with humanity, and fans fed their faces and hoisted beers here, there and everywhere.
The “On Deck” team shop was brimming with business, fans snatching up hats, shirts, hoodies and other assorted collectables.
Athletics and Houston Astros players stand on the first and third base lines during the playing of the national anthem on Opening Day, on Friday at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com Fans hope Sacramento lands expansion club
The optimism isn’t just for another season of promise but for something greater.
“This feels so different from last year, and it’s a better kind of different because now the A’s feel more like our team,” said John Montgomery, a retired teacher from Placer County who brought two grandsons to the game. “This has always been a baseball town, a baseball region. We can support a Major League team here. We just have to keep selling out. This is our chance.”
The A’s have embraced Sacramento, at least more so to start 2026 than they did in 2025, offering up merchandise with both “Sacramento” and “West Sacramento” lettering and planning in Saturday’s game to don their gold “Sacramento Saturdays” alternate jerseys for the first time.
Nate McGuire and his son Declan were first in line to enter Sutter Health Park on Opening Day for the Athletics against the Houston Astros on Friday in West Sacramento. JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com
But the franchise is also already looking ahead to testing the Las Vegas market. The club will play six “home” games at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the A’s Triple-A club, against the Milwaukee Brewers from June 8-10 and against the Colorado Rockies from June 12-14.
For now, home is where the heart is, and that’s a relay throw away from the Tower Bridge. The players and coaches feel more at ease, and a comfortable team generally plays better.
“Familiarity brings a certain level of peace,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said before the game. “Anytime you go through change is tough, but we’ve been here, we’ve got our bearings. Everyone is familiar with this ballpark now and just being in Sacramento as a group. There’s more comfortability to coming here and getting prepared for an Opening Day.”
The veteran manager added, “We talk about the familiarity of this ballpark with this group. They’ve all stood in the batter’s box, played a lot of games on this field.”
Friday night could hardly have marked a bigger turnaround from last season’s home opener. The A’s in their first-ever home game at Sutter Health Park in 2025, got thumped 18-3 by the Chicago Cubs in what represented the most lopsided home-opening loss for any MLB team since 1921.
Audrey Williamson of West Sacramento is greeted by Rickey Henderson, Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley before the start of the Athletics and Houston Astros game on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com A’s slug their way past Astros
After a daunting start to the season, the A’s looked more the part of the swingin’ A’s of the second half of last season. The A’s went 1-5 on their six-game road trip to open this campaign, a three-game sweep setback to the Toronto Blue Jays and winning one of three contests against the Atlanta Braves.
The A’s entered Friday with the lowest team batting average in the majors at .177 but found their groove against a Houston team that entered the game in first place in the AL West and riding a five-game winning streak.
Max Muncy had a two-run double in the third inning to give the A’s a 4-1 lead. Lawrence Butler bashed a 3-run homer to left to make it 9-1 in the fourth, followed immediately by Muncy’s two-out, 404-foot solo shot to left blast to push the lead to 10-1 to highlight a six-run inning.
The Athletics’ Max Muncy rounds first base after hitting a home run off Houston Astros pitcher Roddery Muñoz in the fourth inning Friday at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com
In the fifth, Tyler Soderstrom doubled to center to score Langeliers for an 11-1 lead.
So much for that team slump coming in, outside of catcher Shea Langeliers, who clubbed an MLB-leading five home runs in his team’s first six games. He had no hits on Friday but walked twice and scored a run. Soderstrom had two hits, Muncy three and Butler four as the A’s tallied 13 hits. Starting pitcher Jeffrey Springs pitched six strong innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out seven.
“A really nice night overall,” Kotsay said postgame. “It’s nice to see the guys have some momentum and have some fun playing the game.”
Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler (4) is greeted by teammates after hitting a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning against the Houston Astros on Friday, April 3, 2026, at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com Kotsay settling in
Kotsay said he has enjoyed his stay in Sacramento, discovering new eateries with visions of being a tourist of sorts when the schedule allows.
“I just found a great sushi restaurant the other night, and I didn’t know it existed all last year,” Kotsay said, referring to Kru on Folsom Boulevard. “So I’m still finding new, exciting areas of Sacramento, which I love. Totally adjusted to this.
“I think this is the fastest growing city in all of California, which is pretty impressive. I’ve yet to be at the Governor’s mansion or the Capitol, but as a native Californian, I’m adjusting just fine.”
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Joe Davidson has covered sports for The Sacramento Bee since 1989: preps, colleges, Kings and features. He was in early 2024 named the National Sports Media Association Sports Writer of the Year for California and he was in the fall of 2024 inducted into the California High School Football Hall of Fame. He is a 14-time award winner from the California Prep Sports Writer Association. In 2021, he was honored with the CIF Distinguished Service award. He is a member of the California Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Davidson participated in football and track in Oregon.