The Sacramento Athletics’ Nick Kurtz, right, celebrates with Darell Hernaiz after hitting a grand slam against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday in West Sacramento.
Scott Marshall/Associated Press
Giants ace Logan Webb pitches during a game against the New York Mets in San Francisco, Sunday, April 5, 2026. The Rocklin (Placer County) native will miss the series in Sacramento with right knee bursitis.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
Fan Mark Forsyth wears his Mike Yastrzemski jersey and A’s hat in the outfield seating area during the Giants’ exhibition game against the Sacramento River Cats at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on March 23, 2025.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle
The San Francisco Giants and the Sacramento Athletics face off this weekend, but what had been the Battle of the Bay has taken new meaning, and a new name. The A’s clipped their Oakland roots to beat a path to the Las Vegas desert with a pit stop in Sacramento, eventually ceding Northern California to the Giants and relegating this rivalry to the less cool sounding “Interstate 80 Series,” trading in the Bay Bridge for the Yolo Bypass.
Decades of failed ballpark proposals and debates over territorial rights turned the geopolitical Battle of the Bay somewhat sad and bitter by the time the A’s moved out of the Coliseum at the end of 2024. When the Sacramento A’s visited Oracle Park in 2025, the Giants seemingly waved a victory flag when they hung a banner over Section 415 in center-right field with San Francisco’s 415 area code and the East Bay’s 510 area code with a heart tying the two — a kind of cold invitation for abandoned Oakland fans to switch their allegiances.
The Giants have won the territorial battle.
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The A’s, though, are winning on the field.
While the Giants have toiled in mediocrity, finishing at or just under .500 in each of the last four seasons, the A’s have quietly built one of baseball’s most compelling offenses from the rubble of a payroll-related roster teardown that began after the 2021 season.
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The A’s are (precariously) in first place in the American League West thanks to that offense and at least one emerging MVP candidate. They’re 22-20, and lackluster pitching — lacking consistency and punch since Mason Miller was traded to the San Diego Padres last year — has kept them from taking off despite their offense.
In contrast, the Giants are off to one of their worst starts of the decade despite a retooling under the Buster Posey administration intended to bump them over the .500 mark to which they’ve been anchored.
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Playing in a hitter-friendly Triple-A ballpark helps, but the A’s are slamming at the plate. Their .731 OPS through Wednesday ranked seventh in MLB, as did their .404 slugging percentage. Catcher Shea Langeliers is at the center of that, off to a start so hot that if he continues, he’ll be squarely in the AL MVP conversation with Aaron Judge. Langeliers has hit 12 home runs with a 177 wRC+ (a stat that compiles weighted run creation; 100 is average).
Sacramento Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, a dark-horse AL Most Valuable Player candidate, celebrates after hitting a double against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday in West Sacramento.
Scott Marshall/Associated Press
Langeliers is also one of the longest-tenured A’s on the roster, as well as a key part of the team’s teardown of their previous core. He came from the Braves organization in the deal that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta in 2022. (Olson is raking with the hot Braves this year, it should be noted.)
Distinctly different from the Giants’ current roster, the A’s core is primarily built on top draft picks who have delivered star power. The A’s stretch of ugly rebuild years yielded the opportunity to draft first baseman Nick Kurtz (the fourth overall choice in the 2024 draft), shortstop Jacob Wilson (sixth overall in 2023) and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom, their 2020 first-rounder.
Kurtz isn’t experiencing much of a sophomore slump following his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2025; the 23-year-old slugger has five home runs with a 136 wRC+. He is one of the most potent bats in baseball this year with a stunning 58.4% hard-hit rate paired with a 21% walk rate to counteract the 29.8% strikeout rate. He’s discerning at the dish, but when he’s swinging it’s with pop.
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Meanwhile, Wilson — an All-Star last year — recently landed on the injured list. That prompted the A’s to call up yet another top prospect, Henry Bolte, who should be in action for the weekend series.
The Giants are on the other end of the spectrum in talent development. They’ve traded their 2020 first-round pick, two-time Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey, to the Cleveland Guardians. Bailey was one of few recent high Giants draft picks to significantly contribute to the big-league team, a rarity amongst the rest of the high-priced, veteran offense brought in from outside the organization that, despite the expense, has not been up to snuff.
San Francisco’s year at the plate has been almost comically bad. Their .656 OPS (through Wednesday) is second worst in baseball, ahead of only the New York Mets. Their 30 home runs are tied for second fewest with the Milwaukee Brewers. Pitchers aren’t fearing the consequences of attacking the zone against this lineup, which contributes to a 5.7% walk rate that not only ranks last in MLB but is on pace for the lowest walk rate in franchise history.
Posey signed Willy Adames, re-signed Matt Chapman and traded for Rafael Devers — this lineup’s “Big 3” — to compete within the tough NL West. Those three haven’t produced; the trio have combined for just nine home runs, and each has a sub-100 wRC+.
Giants slugger Rafael Devers, celebrating after hitting a home run against the San Diego Padres on May 6 at Oracle Park, is heating up in May after a slow start to the season.
Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press
The Giants’ biggest success story of the season so far is Casey Schmitt, a jack of all trades defender who is smashing the ball primarily at designated hitter. He has six home runs and a 137 wRC+. Schmitt and Heliot Ramos (111 wRC+) are the few Giants homegrown hitters contributing in 2026.
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Therein lies the biggest difference between the A’s and Giants in 2026. The A’s endured the forgettable miseries of tanking for the tribulation of drafting and developing first-round picks who have already elevated their offense.
The Giants have had plenty of their own contributors from the farm, though most of the impact comes from the pitching side. Logan Webb is their biggest homegrown star. But their first-round picks in recent years have mostly fallen by the wayside or gotten little traction in the minors.
Bryce Eldridge is the most touted prospect on the big league team now, but guys like Hunter Bishop, Will Bednar and Reggie Crawford have been stuck in the minors or injured (in Crawford’s case). James Tibbs III, the 2024 first-round pick, was traded to Boston in the Devers trade — and subsequently flipped to the Dodgers after just a month in the Red Sox organization.
As the A’s and Giants meet in Sacramento this weekend, the Giants are coming in hotter than their record indicates, having had a decent series against the Los Angeles Dodgers as Devers slowly heats up at the plate. In 12 May games through Wednesday, he’s batting .366 with a 1.133 OPS.
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Both teams aren’t proof of their concepts. The A’s made tearing down and rebuilding an art form over the past 30 years, but are decades removed from their last deep postseason run. The Giants are staunchly against tearing down in favor of retooling, but they haven’t won a playoff series since 2014 and can make no better claim that their method is best.
But as the Battle of the Bay — err, the Interstate 80 Series — strikes a different tone, it is nevertheless a litmus test for both franchises.
The Tower Bridge is visible behind right field and new scoreboard during the Giants’ 2025 exhibition game against the Sacramento River Cats at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on March 23, 2025.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/S.F. Chronicle